Vacant Property

[dave_c]

Probably a stupid question but say if a piece of property is vacant with no tenant, does the owner of the property still have to pay the expenses of the property like council tax etc. even though they don't live there?

[Ethel]

Not in the following circumstances:

Properties which may be exempt are:-

* property which is empty. It has to be unoccupied and substantially unfurnished. The exemption applies for a maximum of six months and the property has to be vacant for the whole of this period
* property which is vacant because it needs major repairs or alterations to make it habitable. The exemption applies for a maximum of 12 months whether the work is actually finished or not by then
* condemned property
* property which has been re-possessed by a mortgage lender
* property unoccupied because the person who lived there now lives elsewhere because they need to be cared for, for example, in hospital (or with relatives)
* property which is unoccupied because the person who lived there has gone to care for someone else