Re:London’s Great Exodus
by to3m on Sunday October 13, 2013 @09:07PM
(#6544835)
The UK does not have property taxes. The figure given is presumably council tax, which is a fixed fee per household, vaguely based on the house's supposed value. The highest council tax band is quite low; i pay £2,000 per year, and my flat is worth a lot less than $20m.
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Also council tax is paid only by the resident, not by the owner, so it's not felt by foreign owners if they are renting it out, or even if it's empty.
This is correct about rented properties, but not about empty ones.
Empty properties can attract a discounted rate of council tax, but are only exempt under certain circumstances (resident in prison/hospital, house unlivable).
Long-term empty properties can even attract a higher rate of council tax.
That last part is simply incorrect; Councils have a time limit on whether empty properties are exempt from council tax. Also, there's an extra 50% penalty if it's been empty/unfurnished for 2 years or more:
https://www.gov.uk/council-tax/second-homes-and-empty-proper...