Man slapped with double council tax bill after buying empty home

A man has been slapped with a staggering £2,800 council tax bill after buying an "uninhabitable" empty house. Ray Plant snapped up a two-bedroom semi-detached house for £100,000.

However, as it had been empty for more than two years, it is subject to the empty home premium. That means the Band B council tax charge of £1,397.67 for the Bradeley, Stoke-on-Trent

property has been doubled to £2,795.34. The 54-year-old has now accused the Stoke-on-Trent City Council of dissuading people from attempting to bring long-term empty homes back into use.

Ray, from Burslem, told Stoke-on-TrentLive: "I bought this house with no idea that the council was going to rip me off. I knew nothing about the legislation. "There’s a lack of

transparency. I agree with the legislation, it’s getting the properties back into use. But to penalise the person that goes on and does it, I find it disgusting. "The neighbours hated

the way the house looked, the council was not going to do anything about it, and then I came along and now they’re doubling my council tax. "When a new buyer buys it, there should be a

six to nine-month grace period. "It has been subject to this charge previously, you have this amount of time to bring it back into use, otherwise you’ll be charged for it too. That

seems the fair way.” Ray added: "I’m doing exactly what the council wants to happen and they’re refusing to lift the charge. "It’s uninhabitable, you’ve only got to look through

the window, it’s not difficult to see the house is being done up. "They’re basically using good legislation and they’re abusing it. "As far as I’m concerned, I’m helping the

community by bringing the house back into use. "I find it a bit bizarre and it's just another way of grabbing money where you can take it. They’re not showing any common sense.

"They should drop the charge for new buyers of properties and put an enforcement order on it that it must be brought back into use within a certain amount of time." The council

currently doubles council tax on properties which have been empty for at least two years. This increases to 200 per cent for those properties empty between five and 10 years, and then rises

to 300 per cent for those empty for more than a decade. Council leader Abi Brown said: "The council is keen to see empty properties brought back into use, however, unfortunately some

owners allow them to remain empty for many years, blighting neighbourhoods and causing anti-social behaviour. "A number of years ago we - along with many other councils - started to

utilise our ability to increase council tax bills on empty properties to encourage such owners to bring their properties back into use. "This was well publicised at the time with

further details available on the council website, and we would always advise that potential property purchasers should make enquiries about council tax during the purchasing process.

"We have advised Mr Plant that if the property is uninhabitable, he can apply to the valuation office to have the property removed from rating for council tax."