Moving out of my house...council tax and electricity

[Donza]

First house, and i have decided to leave Leeds and move to the West Mids Area.

unsure about whether to sell it or rent it yet. I'm moving back into my parents house for the meantime.

I want to shut the leccy off and the gas as i wont be living in it anymore until its sold.

Also i need to tell the council i am leaving it vacant. So i dont get charged council tax...

Anyone have any advice about thsi sort of thing. Never really tried to shut everything off a house.

 

[BTB 500]

Also i need to tell the council i am leaving it vacant. So i dont get charged council tax...

Believe that only applies if the house is empty i.e. unfurnished.

 

[Donza]

Believe that only applies if the house is empty i.e. unfurnished.

Didn't know that..

better clear the furniture out then

 

[andy_k]

to be honest it's a bad move getting the utilities cut off.

if you need to go around there or let a potential purchaser view it the last thing you want is to be showing them around a cold, clammy house by candle light.

For what little it will cost you, keep the gas and electricity connected

 

[BTB 500]

Yup I would also advise leaving the utilities connected.

Please check about the council tax as this may have changed (or even vary from area to area).

 

[CE230]

Keep up the insurance too but advise the insurer that you will be making regular visits else the policy is void after 30 days of non occupancy, keep a diary of visits. Turn the water off as flooding won't be covered in an empty property but keep gas and lecky connected. Reduced council tax is time limited, check with your local council.

 

[davidjpowell]

Council Tax used to be 3 months rate free then 50%. I don't think it changed when Business Rates did.

 

[nickcc101]

Suggest renting out, bad time of year to sell even before slump in housing market. You will then cover all your overheads with the rent and still have a property that will eventually rise in price.

 

[scumbag]

if you move out of Leeds, or into a house where the council tax is already paid, you won't have to pay for the house you have moved out of.

Leave the leccy and gas on, but tell the companies what you are doing. They won't mind, but you are still responsible for all costs until new owners take over. You need to tell the water company too.

You can have the phone cut off. Inform the TV licence people. You can cancel contents insurance, but you will need to maintain buildings insurance.

Leeds is a pretty afluent area but unless you know someone who is willing to pay the good market rate for the house, I would suggest you rent it out. I have done so with a house about 8miles from Leeds city centre as it is. Took 5 weeks from it being advertised with a rental agency to the rentees moving in. I had tried to sell it for 10months. The buyers out there are present can bargain very hard, so unless you really must sell, I would keep hold of it until the market improves. I Know, I have just bought a new home and managed to get it £25k under the market value. And thats todays market value. It would probably be worth a lot more. But hey, they could always have said no!

If you have a mortgage on it, and you wish to buy a new house elsewhere it does affect the amount you can borrow, but even in todays credit crunch, you will be pleasently surprised how much a responsible lender will help you. And you can always rent in the midlands while you get sorted, if you don't earn enough to borrow at the moment.

 

[ukcodger]

Be careful about shutting utilities off. If you have no heating and we get a REAL freeze up, you could come home to burst pipes, ceilings down and the rest of that nightmare.

 

[jaymanek]

NEVER turn utilities off..

But do make sure you stop the water at the main supply as if the heating is not used the system could freeze and explode... happened at our old house whilst waiting for sale to complete.
The buyer ended up with a brand new house inside as everything was wrecked.