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Council Tax Completion Notices
Council Tax on new dwellings - Completion Notices. A change in regulations is needed!
WHY are we being taxed before we have made any money?!!! Especially when we are not using the services this tax is meant for. Why let them walk all over our industry. This is an unjust tax.
Are you a house builder or thinking of building or converting, this will affect you in the future.
I am currently involved in a project of renovating an old hotel and new builds into 21 apartments. My local council have issued Completion Notices on all of these apartments even though they have not been signed off yet by Planning or Building Regs. Also the gas, water and electric services are not yet completed. In the Valuation Office Council Tax Manual, it actually states that an owner of a dwelling under construction might, to avoid Council Tax, choose to leave it not quite complete until a sale has been agreed. But the Government have come up with a procedure to prevent this. As a builder I find this quite insulting. Who are they to say when a builder should be finished with a building project? Council Tax is for services, confirmed by our sitting MP, that this is the case. How can these empty properties be using any services when they are not occupied because of the economic circumstances caused by the Government and Banks? How can we pay tax for something when we have not made any money on it? How can they justify charging builders this tax? Especially when we create their perpetual wealth for their salaries which in many cases are more than ours!
This seems to be happening all over the country and I assume that small builders just do as they say and pay the taxes. As they cannot afford to fight the Council over it, alone. I am refusing to borrow money to pay a tax. I am trying to drum up some support from building associations and builders such as yourselves to get this law over turned. I believe that no one should have to work under these pressures, I have had to appeal against the Councils decision to issue me with completion notices and this is all on mind whilst I am trying to work. If any Government member was made to work under these stressful conditions they would be off work on sick leave on full pay!
I am sure we all want to sell ASAP we certainly do not want to pay bank loan interests a day longer than necessary so why are we being punished with Council Tax when 1. We do not use any services on empty buildings and 2. We do not create the failed economy. Our profits if any are far more fair and reasonable that those of Banks, why let the Government continue to punish us! What other business pays tax before earning an income? These parasites live on our backs. Bureaucrats have too much power, stand together and fight to force change. I for one am prepared to go to prison for none payment.
Alternatively if you can afford to pay Council Tax for all your empty properties, give me a loan! 0%!!! Support us now – Please send an email with your support to info@crofthomes.orangehome.co.uk, we will collate them and send to the Government for a change in the law. Alternatively please complain direct yourself to Bob Neill MP.
Please also pass this on to any builders/building companies that you know of.
7 answers
Amazing, I was under the impression that if a property is unoccupied and unfurnished it was exempt from council tax until such time it became occupied (or furnished). I have recently applied (successfully) for a council tax rebate on a property that I let on short term lease for a period it was unoccupied, why is it any different from a new build that is unoccupied and unfurnished.
I too am having a problem with council tax on an unoccupied building. I have recently purchased a property that has been empty for 8 months. I have just started extending and refurbishing the property and have received a letter from the local council wanting to know who was living there. I telephoned them and said I was not moving in and that as there is no bed there I was not obliged to pay council tax. The girl on the telephone said that there had been a 6 month hold on the property and as this has now expired I was liable to pay the full council tax from the day I completed on the sale. I explained that I was spending the next 3 months extending the property and therefore not going to be living there, and she said it made no difference, the tax was still due. To date I have not heard from the council. The question arises..Should one be liable for council tax on an empty property that is having extensive works done to it and therefore uninhabitable?
I'm in 2 minds about this one, inheritantly it feels wrong to have to pay Council Tax on a new build before it's occupied. But in effect the property is still benefitting from a lot of the services provided by the council. As a Developer selling the house you'll be singing the virtues of the local amenities/ parks/ schools/ leisure centres etc. which are provided by the council. If the house caught fire you'd expect the fire brigade to come and you benefit from the Police patrolling the neighbourhood.
With the last house I built it wasn't until 8 months after it had been fully completed and Build Reg. certificate issued that the Council Tax people got in touch and to be fare to them they didn't try to back date it and still gave me the further 6 month 100% discount, yes I'm having trouble selling houses at the moment as well! However the one before that the guy turned up just after plastering and said in his opinion the house could be occupied within 6 weeks and so he was going to register it for council tax from then.
Now I always allow for a years council tax in my budget when I'm working out a projects viability. The main problem seems to be, as others have noted, the definition of completion, it appears that the council tax assessors have the power to arbitrarily decide.
We haven't even had the luxury of a completion notice in any form. We were developing an old mansion which was a difficult project. The person left in charge did not complete the external works and fire regs/electricity works satisfactorily. We moved a member of the family into 1 flat for security purposes and contacted the Council to pay CT on that flat. The listing officer inspected and placed just that 1 flat on the band which was ok. A year later the flats were still not completed and suitable for renting out, a revenues council officer visited and decided all the flats were completed from the previous year.
Another listing officer agreed deciding that they were "dwellings".
Can any one help with this. Surely a new or renovated building which was not a dwelling previously doesnot become a dwelling until it has complied with building and planning regs. I accept that the Council can decide a property can be completed within 3 months but it is this definition of when a new building becomes a dwelling that we need help with. PARTICULARLY AS THEY ARE BACK DATING IT. We are at the stage of going to the High Court with this so help would be welcome.
I agree it is unfair to pay council tax before a building is complete. Consideration needs to be given to incentives to builders not disincentives.
HELP1
Desperate C,
I would advise you to check your planning permission, on mine there is nothing to state when I should be finished. There is nothing in the law to say you can’t do every single job yourself and take 10 years to build it.
In fact I believe it would be against your human rights if such a law was made.
Therefore the council has no right to tell you when you are finished. It also denies many the opportunity to build their own house; that you could be building at the weekends.
Who are they! These dictators. Are they building experts as well now. They are parasitic scum who make these rules whilst living off the backs of the public tax payer.
This is not about them collecting for the services they provide it is collecting for their wages, for their holiday pay, their sick pay and their hefty pensions.
I am also fighting arbitration on this. I intend taking the council/government to court if they carry on in this manner. I will not pay and I am even prepared to go to prison if necessary.
I hope this of some help to you. I will be continuing my campaign. Please keep in touch it would be nice to know your outcome. I would still refuse to pay any council tax if I was you, can they lock us all up!
Bill Ta’Few - To say we benefit from a lot of services whilst building is just not true. I have had people vandalising my property whilst the building work is going on and the police have done nothing about it, even when I provided the names of the perpetrators and cctv footage so bar humbug to your so called services.
What other services do we get whilst the property is unfinished and empty? As for play spaces we have to make a contribution towards these and then the inhabitants pay for ever.
In addition we pay hefty tax bills, we pay taxes on wages to keep people employed whilst building properties why should we be taxed again on dwellings that are using no services. What other industry or profession pays tax before they have made an income? ? ?
Then there is capital gains tax as well. Police and fire cover does not all come from Council tax.
I doubt your sincerity as a builder. If as you say you allow for this in your budget you and they are clearly pushing up house prices which is unacceptable. Especially while they whine on and on about affordable housing.
I am going to court along with Desperate C, and you will have to pay even more taxes to pay for the court cases and to keep me in prison! Pushing house prices up even further and out of the reach of most want to be purchasers.
Who will you sell to then? You will have to pay Council Tax even longer until you can sell. No; don’t be ridiculous you cannot budget for council tax into perpetuity. There tax office just becomes self perpetuating gaining more and more unelected Power.
I suggest you clearly read what I have said and stop wasting my time. If you have so much money why not give me the loan to pay this tax! As the bank refuses quite rightly to do so. This is simply another build Tax.
Richy,
I've stated my views on the topic and have no intention of getting into an argument with you about it.
I'm a little confused as to why you doubt my sincerity as a Builder because I include an allowance for 12 months Council Tax into my budget, surely the fact that I do this demonstrates my experience.
Also, could you explain how this forces up house prices. I believe the market sets the value of a finished house not the seller, so if I include for something in my feasibility study, that you don't, all that happens is that I will be willing to pay less for the land than you would.
Bill
Whether you are doing a self-build project or are a big developer - you don't & shouldn't get treated any different.
The Council has a duty to the taxpayer to issue completion notices - it is NOT a choice!
Remaining work must be considered on an ongoing basis from the date the Completion Notice was issued based on a hypothetical workforce. It is irrelevant if funds run dry...the property market is slow..or whther you are awaiting a buyer
Any new build receives a 6 month exemption from the date of completion.