The budget

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

... unless there are memories one doesn't want to give up.
A past family home, etc.

Those are not good reasons to hang onto an empty house, move on.

[jfman]

The memories can’t be that valuable if a small increase in council tax isn’t worth paying on top of all the other associated costs. Insurance, maintenance, energy, etc.

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Why would they if it was not in a convenient location?
Didn't you think of that?

Yes, I did - if they didn’t want to live in it, either sell it or let it.

Leaving a house empty to moulder and deteriorate seems strange, unless you are proactively maintaining an empty house?

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jfman

The memories can’t be that valuable if a small increase in council tax isn’t worth paying on top of all the other associated costs. Insurance, maintenance, energy, etc.

Another £2,800/year for the greedy council (100% uplift) takes it out of budget.

---------- Post added at 22:22 ---------- Previous post was at 22:12 ----------

Originally Posted by Hugh

Yes, I did - if they didn’t want to live in it, either sell it or let it.

Leaving a house empty to moulder and deteriorate seems strange, unless you are proactively maintaining an empty house?

Of course, you are in the dark as to what's actually happening.
The house is occupied for a week every 5 or 6 weeks. The house is furnished and CH keeps the damp out.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Of course, you are in the dark as to what's actually happening.
The house is occupied for a week every 5 or 6 weeks. The house is furnished and CH keeps the damp out.

Sell it and rent somewhere else if you want to visit the area. Keep the photos for the memories and help the housing crisis and your pocket by selling it.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Sell it and rent somewhere else if you want to visit the area. Keep the photos for the memories and help the housing crisis and your pocket by selling it.

Why is this advice being offered? It’s the house that matters not the area.

Your point about the housing crisis wasn’t serious, I hope. What’s needed are millions of starter homes in areas with jobs not the piffling scattered number that Gove’s lot are stealth taking from us.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Another £2,800/year for the greedy council (100% uplift) takes it out of budget.

]Of course, you are in the dark as to what's actually happening.
The house is occupied for a week every 5 or 6 weeks. The house is furnished and CH keeps the damp out.

A “holiday home”?

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jfman

A “holiday home”?

Hardly. The house is regularly and frequently inhabited but that does not avoid the Council Tax 100% uplift. There is a tight main home/second home test.

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Another £2,800/year for the greedy council (100% uplift) takes it out of budget.

---------- Post added at 22:22 ---------- Previous post was at 22:12 ----------



Of course, you are in the dark as to what's actually happening.
The house is occupied for a week every 5 or 6 weeks. The house is furnished and CH keeps the damp out.

I’m curious as to why you think you’re entitled not to pay towards the services provided by the council in the area where your house is located.

Note that excuses like ‘we don’t send our kids to school/use social services/libraries’ do not apply. The whole point of socialised services is we all pay for all of them regardless of need so we all have them when we need them regardless of means.

The long-settled democratic view in the UK is that we pay for local services via a charge related to property value. Second home exemptions are an anomaly whose time is long overdue.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Hardly. The house is regularly and frequently inhabited but that does not avoid the Council Tax 100% uplift. There is a tight main home/second home test.

Can afford it ? Then pay it and hush

Can’t afford it ? Sell it and then perhaps see if there’s a ‘home bank’ in the area

You’re in a truly privileged position, stop complaining

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Chris

I’m curious as to why you think you’re entitled not to pay towards the services provided by the council in the area where your house is located.

Note that excuses like ‘we don’t send our kids to school/use social services/libraries’ do not apply. The whole point of socialised services is we all pay for all of them regardless of need so we all have them when we need them regardless of means.

The long-settled democratic view in the UK is that we pay for local services via a charge related to property value. Second home exemptions are an anomaly whose time is long overdue.

Your rather cold-hearted approach to this situation is crueller than I’d have held you for.

The doubling of Council Tax is a disgusting raid on people’s in heritances because they failed to properly stimulate the housebuilding industry.

Your socialised services point is correct; we pay for those through the 100% Council Tax that we contribute without drawing on any of them except the very occasional bin collection.

I’m not asking for a second home exemption; the new tax should have had more flexibility to allow for the situation we face. As it stands, it is as cold hearted as you seem to be and an evidence of government failure to build more homes.




---------- Post added at 14:07 ---------- Previous post was at 14:06 ----------

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

Can afford it ? Then pay it and hush

Can’t afford it ? Sell it and then perhaps see if there’s a ‘home bank’ in the area

You’re in a truly privileged position, stop complaining

Nasty.

[jfman]

There's nothing nasty about using the tax system to discourage inefficient uses of a finite resource.

[Sephiroth]

My property, my decision on how to use it. None of theState’s business - so it should have remained.

Remember it’s down to the government’s policy failure in house building.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

My property, my decision on how to use it. None of theState’s business - so it should have remained.

Remember it’s down to the government’s policy failure in house building.

It is indeed your decision how to use it within the parameters of the taxation system that prevails.

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

My property, my decision on how to use it. None of theState’s business - so it should have remained.

Remember it’s down to the government’s policy failure in house building.

The Government you have repeatedly voted for...

To quote the old saying - "I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs man who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party."