Council Tax On A New Incomplete Barn Conversion.?

[farang]

Having put a new roof, floors etc into the conversion, the council want to inspect it for charging council tax, I have no water to the building, no kitchen or bathroom. But I read that  what Ive done so far means they can charge me CT, ! EEK!  

Is that likely? thank you.

Edited June 21 by farang

[JohnMo]

Is it fit for habitation with out kitchen, bathroom, running water etc - no, so CT should not be due, note I said SHOULD and not IS NOT.

 

If you are making do and actually living there that's a different story. You are due council tax one way or another, unless you live with your parents etc. We had to show a different address, which was the caravan on site. The caravan was charged council tax, until house was signed off and habitable. Then the caravan stopped as long as no longer habitable (no water or electric or sewage).

[nod]

We’ve had this on both our builds 

it makes no difference if it’s habitable 

There using a law that was brought in to stop developers stock piling By not putting a kitchen and bath 

We had no stairs water or power Just a shell They gave us 6 weeks and we had to start paying 50% CT Then full CT months before we moved in 

There answer was Ah it’s not habitable But it could be Red Row can build a house start to finish in 8 weeks 

We put it in the hands of our solicitor and then they hit us with a 3k back CT 

Then offered to drop this if we agreed to 50 % almost immediately 

As we had had two months of arguing Good luck 

[Oz07]

From memory didn't jeremy harris have a result with this and not having water connected. My advice is just don't let them anywhere near the building. Fence it off and block the windows. Don't communicate with them. 

[JohnMo]

7 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

Don't communicate with them. 

nonsense, head in the sand, doesn't get anyone anywhere. 

[Oz07]

How do they find out how far you are if they can't get on site?

[Oz07]

It's worked for me on the last one didn't pay a penny till sign off date. 

[nod]

10 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

From memory didn't jeremy harris have a result with this and not having water connected. My advice is just don't let them anywhere near the building. Fence it off and block the windows. Don't communicate with them. 

I spoke to Jeremy at the time 

Habitable and CT are totally different 

Everything our solicitor presented them with was met by the same answer 

But you could 

We did the entire build using water from next doors tap and a potato 

Our Solicitors said while it’s not in the spirit of the law that was brought in They can and are demanding CT 

Pictured below are two of the photos that where taken at the time of the CT demand 

I don’t give in easily But everything we said was met by 

But you could get it finished in a matter of weeks should you choose to

 

[nod]

8 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

How do they find out how far you are if they can't get on site?

Ours said she had been down and one of the workmen had let her in 

No workmen there it’s a self build Eventually conceded she had looked through the fence Spotted on our neighbors CCTV 

[nod]

Just to add for those who are starting there build I’m pretty sure that registering our new address triggered the CT

Second time round we left registration till we had to for the Electricity connection Really inconvenient 

A week later we received a CT Banding 

[Oz07]

6 minutes ago, nod said:

Ours said she had been down and one of the workmen had let her in 

No workmen there it’s a self build Eventually conceded she had looked through the fence Spotted on our neighbors CCTV 

I had a fence up at all times. I would even if considered painting the glass to stop the nosey b!tch. I learnt the hard way 10 pr so years ago let her round and she started charging me just after first fix. As I say I've not made the mistake again never let them on another site all same local authority too. 

[JohnMo]

14 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

How do they find out how far you are if they can't get on site?

Rules are obviously very different between England and Scotland, but if I had said they cannot look and not communicated, council would have just got a court order for me to pay for missed payments. 5 min discussion moved everything to caravan at band CT band A.

 

In our local area if we have had two properties deemed habitable, first property is charged at 100% and second 200% CT as a second home.

[Oz07]

Static vans here are charged at a band and fair enough if someone living on site. My last place was in garden of my house so they were already copping from existing house. 

[farang]

I live next door & pay CT for that property, I had to put the build on hold as I became a full time carer for my parent, you get £80 a week for that. It was 2 years with no real income, Im now on my arse money wise. 

This situation will be devastating, do these people have no empathy? 

 

Could my wife stay in our house & I move into the new build? single occupier apply?

Edited June 21 by farang

[farang]

Ive now had a letter from the council saying they want council tax from when I purchased the property, that was in 1993 !   I think they have it in for me......Ive read that there is a time limit on these matters?

[Temp]

On what grounds? Agricultural land and Agricultural barns are normally exempt until they become dwellings. 

 

Start collecting evidence from Google maps and streetview so you can prove it was a barn until some date. 

 

 

[farang]

When do they become dwellings though?, it would seem that the council consider four walls & a roof fair game!

[Oz07]

If they've not inspected it how do they know what stage it's at? Scare tactics I think 

[Alan Ambrose]

It seems we don’t expect our own institutions to act morally, these days. And they don’t expect to do so, either. That’s a sad state of affairs.

[farang]

On 25/06/2025 at 06:09, Oz07 said:

If they've not inspected it how do they know what stage it's at? Scare tactics I think 

Looking at the pics nod posted above, any building with a decent roof & secured windows doors is fair game to them. I read where C'Tax  can only be back dated 6 years?

[Oz07]

2 hours ago, farang said:

Looking at the pics nod posted above, any building with a decent roof & secured windows doors is fair game to them. I read where C'Tax  can only be back dated 6 years?

When the lady stung me that time they said first fix onwards. 

 

Does anyone know the official stage they can charge at then it might help with a way forward. 

[Kelvin]

My experience with Perth & Kinross council was very different. Due to a few different factors we ended up renting the farmhouse we planned to live in while building 4 months before moving.  They sent us a CT demand so I called them and explained the situation. They said no problem let us know once you move in and we’ll calculate it from then. I did need to send them pictures to prove it was empty of furniture they were fine with some boxes. Then when our house was nearly finished and we were waiting on the handrail arriving to finish the stairs and the electrical sign off they contacted me and I said we didn’t have a habitation certificate from building control so we couldn’t move in (this is where it’s quite different from England I expect) they again said let us know when you do. All very reasonable.