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I'm buying a house, which is currently vacant. It has been for at last a year. There are grants available from our council to assist with the renovation of vacant properties, which is nice.
The owners have failed to keep the Council Tax status up to date. My potential access to the grants is being blocked as the Empty Homes people use the Council Tax people as a reference and according to the Council Tax status this house isn't empty.
Any suggestions how I can encourage some remedy? I have asked my solicitor to ask them to correct the Council Tax status but the Empty Homes officer I spoke to pointed out that the owners may be reluctant to correct the council tax status as they will be billed for backdated 150% rate on the house.
Could I try and make it a condition of the sale (along with one or two basic repairs post-survey)? I'm a house-buying novice so any advice appreciated.
Could I try and make it a condition of the sale
You could try
The result will depend how motivated the sellers are, and if you one of a few potential buyers, then the answer may well be “not very motivated”
Can you not sequence it as follows:
buy house
change council tax status
apply for grant
Presumably the council are going to pursue the owners for the unpaid council tax anyway - not sure theres a time limit on unpaid council tax and at some point it would go to debt collectors. Since it's in their interest to pay the 100% rate (whereas it's in yours for them to pay the 150% rate) you probably need to offer to split it with them.
Presumably the council grant is effectively paid for by the 150% rate to encourage owners to sell and buyers to buy them? I can't see anyone budging TBH.
You could revise your offer down by the grant amount claiming that the offer was made on the belief the house was eligible? Depends on the market and the condition of the house I guess.