Council Tax Query

[carron81]

Hi

I'm confused by my local council tax (fife).

I'm not living in my flat and it is up for sale. On the back of my bills there is a section that says "50% reduction for 6 months where no one lives in a house e.g if its up for sale" which applies to me.
Then after 6 months it would be reduced to 10% reduction.

The next section goes on to tell you that you are exempt if it is unoccupied and unfurnished.

I contacted my council to tell them that I'd moved out and its up for sale and they told me to email dates and I would get the 50% discount.

I've now been told that i'm only entitled to 10% as the flat still has some furniture in it

I called them up today to query this as it clearly states on the back of the bill that I should get 50% as it is unoccupied. There is nothing saying it has to be emptied

The lady I spoke to wasn't helpful at all, all she kept saying to me was your entitled to the 10% and she didn't answer me when I asked why it says I should get a discount.

I dont know what to do now. My friend lives in Edinburgh and she says its the same over there that you get 50% discount.

Does anyone know anything about this or been in the same situation?

[ethandron]

I think that this might vary by council. Where we are an empty property (no furniture at all) attracts zero council tax for the first 6 months and then a 50% reduction.

[rabbitygirl]

We have 2 properties in the same council area. Both properties were empty when we bought them, the owners having died.

We were able to enjoy 6 months at 50% reduction on one property because the deceased owners relatives didn't let the council know it was empty.

This didn't happen on the 2nd because by the time we bought it had been empty for about a year and the 10% had begun. It's still empty and the 10% reduction still applies. Personally, and I would think this, it's not enough discount for an unoccupied house.

There was mention of no furniture being part of the agreement. Which I ignored and still am. In my opinion its whether you are living in it or not.

[buildersmate]

There are a wide range of Classes of exemption that are coded A through to W. Many of them are pretty obscure and don't apply to the average man in the street. These are definitely fixed across the whole country and are part of the legal framework under which Council Tax was introduced.
The following link explains the different exemption classes (I took it from Westminster City Council for convenience - but it is the same across the country)
http://www.westminster.gov.uk/councilgovernmen tanddemocracy/councils/counciltaxandfinance/no tes.cfm
As far as I can establish, councils do have some local jurisdiction over how much %age reduction to give for various exemptions. This may explain why different folks are coming back with different answers.
Carron - the main Classes you should be interested in are Class A and C. Ask Fife exactly what they give in discount for both of these Classes of Exemption.