ridiculous council tax charge

[Brains]

If you let it out to a student on a standard ASL tenancy agreement the council tax should then be zero.

If you dont mind a bit of sharp practice, then all you need is to register a student as the sole tenant. The student does not to have to live there, you pay the student couple of pints for the paperwork

 

[MontyVeda]

...
then there was a flurry of interest through the estate agent so we held off thinking it was going to sell this time, then nothing came of it.
...

this sounds like your estate agent isn't doing a very good job of selling it for you (in fact, a very poor job).... have you considered using another one?

your current estate agent may be blaming it on the market being slow... but that's just an excuse. tell them you'll take the property elsewhere because they're useless at selling your house.

 

[ASC1951]

If you let it out to a student on a standard ASL tenancy agreement the council tax should then be zero.

If you dont mind a bit of sharp practice, then all you need is to register a student as the sole tenant. The student does not to have to live there, you pay the student couple of pints for the paperwork

That's not 'sharp practice', it's fraud.

And if she lets it out to any tenant the council tax, to her, is zero.

 

[Sandra6]

Hang on. You're really struggling, but you had your eyes on two new bikes?

I'd love to have my eye on all sorts of new stuff, but incomings and outgoings are so finely balanced, I simply don't. (Yeah, I got a new phone last month, but I'd had Christmas money specifically for that) And that's despite having a buffer in the bank, a buffer I want to hold onto for emergencies, or when I make the move to NT's and may be jobless for a while.

I guess the price of two new bikes might be small compared to house costs (although I just googled Cube bikes and they're not cheap depending on model) but even so...

Sorry, I know I don't sound sympathetic - I am, because I know what the sense of panic about stuff like this is like. I'm lucky never to have owned a house I guess, and have all this to deal with!

I was waiting for somebody to remember that
I know, I know, having cash to spend, then moaning about being skint isn't really on, but Mr6 has an overtime payment due that will pay for one bike and we were planning on sticking the other one on 0% finance. It's not the wisest thing to do but I don't believe in depriving myself of everything.
If I had to pay full council tax I'd moan, but suck it up and pay, it's the injustice (slight over dramatisation!) of the charge that has wound me up the most.

this sounds like your estate agent isn't doing a very good job of selling it for you (in fact, a very poor job).... have you considered using another one?

your current estate agent may be blaming it on the market being slow... but that's just an excuse. tell them you'll take the property elsewhere because they're useless at selling your house.

This is the fourth agent we've used!! No sale no fee this time atleast.
I really appreciate everyone's frank exchanges. I do think we've been a bit "head in the sand" about the whole thing and some of your replies have made me take stock a bit, and I definitely feel less unstable than I did this morning!

 

[MontyVeda]

maybe the OT payment mr6 is due could go some way toward the kitchen or carpets (which i'm sure you could get the rest on 0%)... if you can rent the house for a while at least it'll start to pay for itself rather than haemorrhaging your dosh... and the tenants pay the CT. And depending on which side of cumbria you are... I'll come and help you fit the units... i'll do anything* for a bottle of wine! (*almost)

 

[02GF74]

either pay the coucil tax or drop the price so it will sell. both will cost your but you need to choose one option.

 

[Over The Hill]

On the plus side, when your son wants to buy a house he may find them more affordable by the Council Discouraging second home buying that inflates local prices beyond the reach of most.

If Son lived there would he not get the council tax at 50% for a single person occupancy? That is what we have around here.