Controversial council tax plan could hit housing standards

Manchester City Council has tabled controversial plans to introduce a 100% increase in council tax for PRS homes during any void period. Here Policy Officer Dan Cumming explains how the proposals could see housing standards suffer.

Housing standards in rental homes across Manchester could suffer as a result of new proposals to double council tax changes for empty rental homes.

Manchester City Council has proposed the scheme in order to balance their budgets after being hit with cuts, rising interest rates and the generally volatile economic climate, with a consultation on the plans closing this week.

The NRLA has objected to the plans, on the basis they will unfairly penalise landlords whose homes may be empty for renovations, upgrades, repairs or energy efficiency works.

Manchester City Council has proposed increasing council tax by 4.99 per cent next financial year, taking an average Band D property up to £1966 per year, with the new levy for empty homes in addition to this.

This means landlords would be paying a bill of £327.66 extra a month during voids.

There are currently some ways that an empty property can be charged extra council tax for void periods, however this generally doesn’t kick in until two years have passed of the property being empty.

In its response to the consultation the NRLA said the charges will penalise landlords during a challenging economic climate just at the time they can least afford it – during a void when there is no rent coming in.

It could also see tenants hit with higher rents if landlords make the decision to increase their monthly payments to ‘cover’ increased costs during voids, and will be expensive for the city council to administer, with some properties likely to be billed several times in a 12 month period.

Voids ‘not in landlords’ interests’

The association explained it is not in landlords’ interests to have void periods, yet they are a fact of life, and often necessary if the next tenant is to have a clean and attractive home.

It said landlords often taking advantage of such periods to deep clean and redecorate, and perhaps improve the property in other ways, by installing energy efficiency methods such as extra insulation.

It pointed out that tenants are entitled to ‘quiet enjoyment’ of their property, so these kinds of works would not be appropriate to be carried out when they are in situ.

By penalising PRS landlords for making improvements the city council risks them carrying out only absolutely essential works, encouraging them to ditch plans for other improvements if they know they will face a financial penalty for doing so.

It argued it will also hamper Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s plans to meet net zero targets, if it is refusing to give landlords time to reduce their carbon footprint by making energy efficiency improvements.

More information

You can read the consultation response in full here. 

Keep an eye on our news site and social media channels to find out more about the outcome.