Tenant ran off - who pays what?

tbs624

As you & your friend's property are in Scotland, presumably you have registered as a LL/LA ? ( With effect from 30 Apr 06 all Scottish LLs have to make an application to register)

Has s/he/have you joined a local LL association or SAL (Scottish Association of LLs)? S/he can set the membership fee against rental income for tax purposes & should get discount on insurances etc. They offer LL training courses & can give valuable guidance on how to deal with these sorts of issues.

Keep everything in writing, and keep copies. If you haven't done so already, write to the Council by recorded delivery, stating the dates of the tenancy, any relevant info that you have on the tenant, enclose a copy of the tenancy agreement, and mention the dates of your phone calls & the name of the council employee with whom you discussed the matter. If you have copies of any letter written by your friend stating that she was moving out and letting the property then send a copy of that too.

fifeken

Update: The tenant had registered for council tax but is overdue 2 months. The council confirmed today that they would not chase the owner, only the tenant, for the overdue money.
I have a request for information in with British Gas asking for legislation or whatever along the lines suggested by real1314 above.

tbs624 - Owner is registered as a LL but not a member of any association. We thought letting agency would deal with everything but they're hopeless! She lives abroad and the rental income is below the tax threshold so she doesn't pay tax on it anyway, but we tend to keep receipts just in case. Don't think I need to write to the council now based on what they told me today.

Thanks all.

Scotslass2010

Hi, out of interest, what council was it?

I am currently in similar situation. Tenant has absconded now council are demanding council tax from me, even though they were advised of new tenant when they moved in. They have been truly awful over a number of things.

It would be really useful to know details of other council and what they said about liability before I go in to a meeting with my council next week.

It's been a nightmare.

Thanks in advance for advice!!

carolinehunt200

Hi
I am afraid contents insurance will not cover any bills, as it says its only for the contents.

fifeken wrote: »

She has contents insurance which we hope will cover the theft of the furniture etc. I wouldn't have expected it to cover bills but is this a possibility? Or would it be more specialised insurance? The insurance company is aware that the flat is let out.

Jowo_2

Do you have proof, such as a tenancy agreement, that stipulated the tenant is responsible for paying the council tax? Many local council websites publish this hierarchy of liability for who should pay the CT, as per that below. Does yours?

How can I tell who has to pay?

There is only one council tax bill for each dwelling. To work out who will have to pay for your house (or "dwelling"), look down the list below. As soon as you reach a description which applies to someone in your house, that person will be responsible for the bill (and will be the "liable person").

1. a resident who owns the property;
2. a resident who is a tenant;
3. a resident who is a statutory, statutory assured, or secure tenant;
4. a resident who is a sub-tenant;
5. any other resident;
6. the non-resident owner unless there is a non-resident tenant or a non-resident sub-tenant, either of whom have a lease of six months or more.

A "resident" is a person of 18 years or over who lives in the dwelling as his or her sole or main residence.
These rules mean that the owner-occupier(s) or tenant occupier(s) (including council tenant(s)) will usually have to pay the tax. If the property is empty - or it is no one's main home, for example a holiday home, liability will fall on the owner subject to paragraph f. A tenant will not have to pay the council tax if the landlord lives in the same dwelling. These rules do not apply in some special cases, these are described below.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/localgov/ctlde-00.asp

BitterAndTwisted

As this thread was started over 18 months ago I expect the OP has already dealt with this. Still, it would have been nice to know how this might have been resolved one way or another.....

clutton_2

if you have registered the tenant when they first moved in, and told the council the date they moved in then the tenant is responsible. It would also be useful to take your AST which should include a clause saying that the tenant is responsible for council tax and showing their signature agreeeing to that.

you are responsible from the agreed date that the tenant moved out/absconded.

Council tax liability is a natioinal procedure which all councils follow... if you search on here you will find several lists of the liability from council tax officers who post on here


thank you Jowo !!!

RAS

Old thread folks

Scotslass2010

Thank you so much Jowo, that was a great link. I called the govt. but they wouldn't be held to a position on it.

Clutton, yes the tenant signed a lease for short-assured tenancy that stipulated they were responsible for paying council tax for the six months.

No action has been taken to end the lease agreement as yet and from what i have read until court action is taken it is still in effect. By law you are not allowed to assume tenant has absconded

I found this info elsewhere..... "The other thing is a landlord should not assume abandonment and go about changing locks on the assumption that the tenant has given up their tenancy. A tenant’s disappearance does not bring a tenancy to an end, even where the tenant is no longer paying the rent and has removed half a landlord’s kitchen. What a landlord needs to do is follow the legally required steps to bring a tenancy to an end by either issuing a section 8 or section 21 notice."

Bitter and Twisted and RAS... I realise this is an old thread, but my problem and post were new so any further advice is much appreciated.

Thanks

tbs624

Scotslass2010 wrote: »

Bitter and Twisted and RAS... I realise this is an old thread, but my problem and post were new so any further advice is much appreciated.

Thanks

Welcome as a newbie:). Tis better to start your own new thread as otherwise what happens is that some folk will respond to your query and some to the older original one, as per CarolineHunt's post.

Go to top left of screen on main board and hit New Thread button.