Cancelling Council Tax

[Tara999]

I shall be renting my house out for approx 8 months and going to do some travelling - can I just cancel my council tax for the remainder of the year as its up to the new tenants to pay their own council tax? What questions will I be asked ?

[almcd007]

hi there tara999.

It's fine. You just inform the council by letter of the date when you will be leaving the property and also inform them of the new tenants name and previous address. They will then re-imburse you if you have paid in full upfront, recalculate the tax and bill the new tenants directly from the date you move out.

You must inform the council of what is happening and also inform your tenants what you have done. Provide them with a copy of the letter you have sent with any property ref numbers etc. This covers your back ! If you haven't paid upfront, cancel the DD or await the councils revised bill to you.

Happy Travelling

[Peter Pedant]

erm there is quite a lot more to do

are you kust closing the door and thinking oo I hope the tenants will be ok when they move in next week ?

are you using an agency ? they take raound 10 to 15 per cent and I didnt find them much good plus VAT

your tenants need to be on a short hold assured tenancy for one year renewable
and responsible for most of the usual things

you need to insure the outside of the house

on the dya they move in you should both read the meters elec and gas and both sign the letter telling the gas elec whaat the readings are
you cant change bills into their name without their signature

CT sinilarly and cancell your direct debit
if there is gap between your going and them moving in - see above I dont adice this
you have to pay the CY but there is a special rate

erm that is about it - oh if you are leaving your furniture amkae an inventgory and photograph the rooms

not every tenant wreckes the house
but when they do, they do it good

[almcd007]

Peter - tara999 was just asking about the council tax as regards that - my post informs her exactly all she needs to do.

[Reverandfunk]

Just as a side issue get in touch with the tax office, if you are going to be out of the country for a few months you should get a tax rebate. When your tax code is calculated for the year they assume you are working for the full year.

I moved to Gran Canaria in Aug 2004 til March 2005. I got a tax rebate of about �500.00 which was a bonus. I think the form is a P78 but your tax office will advise you.

[pollyspeed]

further to previous answers you may also be asked by the ct people to provide a tenancy agreement for the new tenants as proof.if there is a gap between you moving out and the tenants moving and the property is furnished you will be charged the standard empty rate of 50%,if the property is unfurnished you can apply for a class c exemption whereby no ct will be payable.in either case the tenants are only liable for the ct from the day their tenancy agreement commences and will remain liable until the tenancy agreement end date so even if they vacate the prop before their tenancy agreement expires and you havent moved back in yet then the tenant is still liable.i would also advise you to leave the dd in place until you get the revised bill from the council as the change of liable person can sometimes take a while to go through and in the meantime if no payments are being made then you will start getting reminders etc. any overpayments you make will be refunded back to you.good luck and i hope your tenants are house trained!!!