Floods minister: council tax exemptions announced
FLOOD-hit families in East Yorkshire who still cannot live
in their damaged homes will be exempt from paying council tax,
under new funding arrangements announced today.
Floods Recovery Minister John Healey has said he is working
with Hull City Council and East Riding Council on a funding
package that will mean people who are still not back in their
homes are not hit with council tax bills for those
properties.
Hull City Council is expected to receive more than £400,000
to help people displaced by the floods, while East Riding
Council will get more than £100,000.
As part of the Mail's Back Home campaign, we are raising
awareness of the plight of those still not able to return to
their home more than a year after they were flooded.
At the end of July, the number stood at more than 1,400
across Hull and the East Riding.
Mr Healey is expected to finalise the funding over the next
few weeks and aims to make the payments to both councils, along
with 20 other local authorities next month.
Households unable to live in their own homes because of
flood damage have been exempt from council tax since last
summer – but these exemptions are only allowed by law for one
year.
In June Mr Healey wrote to councils reminding them they also
have the power to give discretionary discounts of up to 100 per
cent, so he urged them to do so and said the Government would
cover the cost for this so other local council taxpayers are
not unfairly affected.
Mr Healey said: “Everyone is pulling out all the stops to
get people back in their homes and the pace of progress is
getting quicker and quicker.
“A quarter of those out in June were back home in July with
the numbers of those living in caravans halved in the same
period.
“But for those worst hit it will take more time. I don't
want them paying council tax for homes they can't live in.
“That's why I reminded councils that they have the
discretion to grant council tax discounts to their flood-hit
residents still out of their homes.”
7 Comments
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by Jill, Hull
Wednesday, December 10 2008, 10:32PM
“Maybe the council could help people who are flooded and have skips supplied by Riverside (who have ceased trading ) and now have to pay to have those skips removed on top of everything else.”
by Lesley, Hessle, East Riding
Friday, October 31 2008, 6:48PM
“Just wondered what happens to the lots of people now having to move out because of secondary flooding as far as council tax funding goes?”
by Peter, Uig
Monday, August 04 2008, 10:35AM
“Oops, sorry for the duplication. HDM response times as ridiculously slow as usual, I see.”
by Peter, Uig
Monday, August 04 2008, 10:33AM
“In order to deter property speculators it used to be the case that if a property was empty for over 6 months its official Occupier would get billed 50% of its normal Council Tax charge. Not sure if this is still the case.
However, penalising flood victims was hardly the thinking behind introducing that rule!”
by Peter, Uig
Monday, August 04 2008, 10:29AM
“If you are the official Occupier of a property which has been empty for over 6 months you used to get charged 50% of the normal Council Tax charge, not sure if that's still the case.
But that rule was to deter property speculators, not penalise flood victims for God's sake.”