Beware empty house premiums apply to the property not owner!

Hello, Beware of Buckinghamshire Council rules!! Buckinghamshire Council apply long term empty penalties to a house not the owner.

So, if you buy an empty house you can incur up to four times the normal council tax.

They also don’t allow the new owner to apply for a 50% discount on council tax for major structural repairs etc if the property has already been the subject of a long term unoccupancy premium.

So, someone might buy a dilapidated house at auction thinking it’s a bargain and find they owe the council between double and quadruple the normal council tax and they will also have a massive repair bill for the house.

In our case that’s exactly what happened, and we are now subject to double the council tax (£6,000 PA) that houses in the village worth millions are paying.

The rules are very deceptive, and the new owner is not informed.

This council have no intent to get empty properties back to the market. Their only intent is to fund the huge salaries that their executives get paid.

The salary of the chief executive is £220k plus expenses. That is triple what MP’s get paid and 1.5 times what the prime minister gets paid. The rest of the committee are on around £170k per year. That’s double what MP’s get paid.

The roads in the local area are disintegrating.

I believe the Conservatives have recently made laws that allow these highly paid executives in councils to force through these draconian penalties.

This behaviour is counterproductive and keeping houses off the market.

Can anyone comment on this and the legality of it?

Thank you,

Mark