Updating post from Reddit.
Council Tax increase for 2nd home
I have read articles in the paper today that highlights that councils could double council tax for 2nd homes. Could anyone help if that applies to buy to let as well, example I have a house that own and live in and I also have a buy to let?
Currently no.
In the future. Well it doesn’t seem a big stretch to imagine councils hitting landlords with more tax
Can’t come from council tax. That’s the responsibility of the current resident.
For now.
Wouldn’t exactly be hard for the law to change.
Would just exacerbate the housing crisis even more. Doubt it will happen.
Another reason the rents just keep going up
I have a sneaky suspicion to help tenants out in the future council tax will be eventually the responsibility of the owners. I can really see it happening. Another nail in the coffin for Landlords.
Penalising landlords will exacerbate the housing situation so doubt that
Penalising then would. Forceing then to sell to owner occupiers during a market dip could fix it for a certain subset of people.
The renting crisis is for people renting. Those homes going to people who can afford mortgages does nothing to solve the crisis.
I said for a given portion of them.
A lot of people could get a 50k mortgage, and if we make it unprofitable to be a landlord such that they need to sell up en mass, that will be enough to buy the house you were previously renting for a good percentage of people - potentially through social landlord takeover in some cases
Nope. There are millions of people who will never be able to get a mortgage. That’s the housing crisis. That’s why the crisis is getting worse because landlords are selling up. More landlords selling up won’t do anything but make it worse.
That’s not going to help tenants out.
No because the occupant pays the council tax not you. Air BnB would but most have for a long time anyway.
It does apply to your buy to let if it’s unoccupied, because then you’re the one liable for the council tax. But if there’s a tenant, you don’t get charged anything.
I’ve currently got a council tax bill at 2x the usual amount for the 4 days it was recently unoccupied in between tenancies.
There are mandatory exceptions to the premium which come into force April 1st, one of those is "Actively marketed for sale or let (Class G and Class H)".
Should mean you'll be exempt from the premium between tenants, but it can only be used again after the property has been let for a continuous period of at least six months.
Iirc that was for leaseholds, not ASTs?
Yes - but only when it's vacant - and most councils have a grace period of a few months between Tennant's during which they don't double - but that's not a legal right.
You’ll be paying double on empty properties. At which point the LL will be paying double. Just gonna rush people into getting tenant and not getting all the repairs in between tenancy
The occupant is responsible for council tax, not the owner (as things stand*). If there's a tenant in the property, it's between them and the council how much the council tax is.
Once it's void, you are then responsible for the council tax and the rules vary from council to council. Most allow a grace period before doubling it, so check the rules of the council where your property is located.
*as things stand, because I've seen the idea floated that landlords should be responsible for council tax in tenanted properties. It's a rule change that could be made with legislation. In that scenario it's unlikely it would be charged at a second home rate, it would just be a shifting of responsibility rather than a change in the rate.
I doubt that such a change is imminent, if the government wanted to do it they would have put it in the Renters Reform Bill. The practical effect would be that landlords would put up rents to cover the Council Tax so tenants would be unlikely to gain.
The argument behind it is to avoid scenarios where councils are chasing random people for unpaid tax and getting arguments about who moved in/out when, having to recalculate for the week the property was empty in between tenants only to recalculate again when the next lot move in... Much better and easier to just charge the landlord and then any payment issues for the tenants remains a contractual issue between the landlord and the tenant. But there would need to be a review of how exemptions/discounts apply, so it'd need its own separate focus to examine viability and make sure it's not causing the same or more trouble/cost for councils.
That's an easy fix; scrap the single discount will be their response lol.
I agree, I thought it might be helpful to present the full picture here to OP so they can go into it with their eyes open. The down vote seems harsh.
Council tax, as well as poor tax rules, selective licencing will make landlords sell.
Or just charge more rent so ultimately it'll even out.
I fear that selective licensing costs will increase, just renewed recently and I received a substantial increase in the bill compared to previous.
Bow much was it? And which city/area?