council tax problem

wizz1969uk

hello, i split with my partner in february this year and was homeless, out of desperation i moved into a tiny one bedroomed flat and signed a six month tenancy agreement with a letting agency. i am on income support and filled in the relevant forms regarding rent and council tax.
after 1 month in the property, i found somewhere better and moved in and changed my housing benefit and council tax claim to the new flat but did not give notice to the letting agency of my old flat.

today i recieved a letter from the council saying i owed them £385 for six months council tax, for the old flat i lived in, as i had not give the letting agency six months notice and they would not pay council tax for two flats.

i am now confused and worried as it looks like i am going to be paying si months rent and council tax for my old flat which only spent one month in.

any advice please.

pinkshoes

wizz1969uk wrote: »

and signed a six month tenancy agreement with a letting agency.

You've already answered your own question; you signed a 6 month tenancy agreement, which is legally binding, and which you have to pay.

You had absolutely no right to just move out of the flat, and at the very least should have attempted to negotiate early release from your contract.

The rent you will have to pay for the full 6 months, but as the old flat would have been unoccupied, there might have been a council tax exemption for an empty property, so you might not have to pay (given you can prove you lived at another address).

clutton_2

""today i recieved a letter from the council saying i owed them £385 for six months council tax, for the old flat i lived in, as i had not give the letting agency six months notice and they would not pay council tax for two flats.""


if you are currently lilving in the same council authority area - they will have records to show that you are currently paying council tax somewhere else..

the LA may be able to claim empty property allowance for the period in between you leaving a new tenant moving in. In any case you claimed for the first month - so even if the worse came to the worse you would only have to pay for 5 months..


"as i had not give the letting agency six months notice " - what ?? i dont understand this at all...