Council Tax Liability...

mooks

Last year, I had a bit of an issue where my landlord claimed not to have received my notice letter, and so tried to get an extra couple of months' rent out of me.

This went to a deposit protection adjudication, where the adjudicator found that there was enough evidence to show that I had served notice. They did however, award the landlord a full calendar month's rent, saying that my rent was for every month and every part of month. I accepted that - begrudgingly - and tried to put the matter behind me.

Last week, I got a letter through from the council saying that I was liable for Council Tax because the landlord said that I was the tenant until the end of the rental month. I wrote back to them to tell them that the landlord had tried to claim for Council Tax in their deposit protection counterclaim, but they could not prove that I was liable and so this was not upheld.

I served notice so my contract ended in the middle of the rental month (rental month was the 18th to the 18th, my notice was served on the 1st of the calendar month). I'm making the assertion that although a full month's rent was paid, my contract ended on the 1st of that month, and I was therefore not the legal tenant after that point, and so am not liable for Council Tax.

My question is, I served two months' notice and the contract ended on the 1st of the month. To my mind, I am no longer the legal tenant beyond that time, whether I'd paid a full month's rent or not.

Am I right in thinking this?

Many thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Doozergirl

Was the property left unfurnished when you moved out?

If it was unfurnished, then even if you were liable for the Council Tax, you could claim exemption under Class C (empty and unfurnished) which brings the bill down to 0 for a maximum of 6 months. Rather than fight over the dates, I'd claim the empty and unfurnished to be done with it.

If it was decided that you were liable for the rent until the 18th but moved out on the 1st, you would indeeed be liable for it. If the bill is £0 then there is little to fight over. Do you have evidence of your new tenancy or moving in date elsewhere where you are responsible for the Council Tax? Indeed even the adjudication That should be evidence enough to prove you'd moved out.

mooks

Thanks Doozergirl - unfortunately he property was let furnished, and so I don't believe it would be liable for the discount you mention.

I suppose what I'm really trying to find out is whether, as it's been accepted that notice was served by me, and my contract expired on the 1st of the month, why I would be liable for Council Tax. If there's case law as well that would be even better.

The landlord's been thoroughly unscrupulous throughout - he tried to evidence that I was liable for CT by sending the council my AST, which was supposed to end two months later, but I invoked a break clause. He's conveniently forgotten to mention that the desposits adjudicator accepted that notice was served and he wasn't able to pursue me for the rent up until the original end of the tenancy, as he originally claimed he was. It's just dragging up an issue that was resolved a long time ago, but was incredibly stressful for me at the time...

Doozergirl

Could you give firmer dates please?

ie. when you gave notice
when you moved out
when it was decided you had to pay rent to
what period council tax are charging you for?

Ultimately, the tenant is firstly and primarily responsible for the Council Tax until the tenancy is formally surrendered, ie. the date until which you paid the rent, regardless of whether they live there.

mooks

Doozergirl wrote: »

Could you give firmer dates please?

ie. when you gave notice
when you moved out
when it was decided you had to pay rent to
what period council tax are charging you for?

Ultimately, the tenant is firstly and primarily responsible for the Council Tax until the tenancy is formally surrendered, ie. the date until which you paid the rent, regardless of whether they live there.

Hi there,

I gave notice on the 31st of May, meaning that the tenancy ended on the 1st of August. I originally tried to serve notice on the 27th April, but because the landlord took a month to provide a copy of my AST (which hadn't been provided prior, despite numerous requests) and I was thus unaware of the procedure for serving notice, I actually only gave 6 weeks' notice and moved out on the 18th of July. This was the reason why the tenancy desposit adjudication decision awarded a full month's rent to the LL.

This meant that rent was paid up until the 18th August, but to my mind, the tenancy was formally surrendered on the 1st of August as this was when my notice period ended - but am willing to be corrected on this if this isn't legally the case.

Council Tax period is from the 18th July to the 18th of August. I've told the council that I'm happy to pay from the 18th July to the 1st August as this was when my notice period ended, as the only reason the rent was paid in full for July/August is because the adjudicator made the decision that rent was payable for every month or part thereof. In my mind this just means I forfeited the amount of a calendar month's rental payment from the deposit paid - I wasn't "renting" the property.

Apologies if this comes across as confused - I'd be happy to clarify any points if needs be.

Thank you so much - I'm not going to argue if someone comes back and tells me that yes, I am liable, but my LL was a pain in the backside from the day I moved in and seemed to be trying to get money out of me at every turn. I just feel at this stage that having already got more than £1,000 out of me that he's still coming back for more. It's 'only' £75, but there's a lot of principle here too...

Doozergirl

If your rent month was the 18th to the 18th and your contract ran the 18th to the 18th then you will always be liable for rent and council tax until the 18th of a month.

You needed to give a LL two full rent months notice, which runs with the dates on your contract. ie. you can't terminate a contract on the 1st of the month because you gave notice on the 31st of the month. If you give notice on the 31st of May, then your two month notice period would start on the 18th of June and you would be liable for rent and council tax until the 18th August. The deposit people were correct I'm afraid and your Council Tax liability is the same as your rent liability.

That isn't standard to just your contract, I'm afraid.

tbs624

Doozergirl wrote:

If your rent month was the 18th to the 18th and your contract ran the 18th to the 18th..

OP - your rental period would have run from the 18th to the *17th*, so make sure that the CT folk aren't charging you an extra day's worth.

I would also ask them about a discount as presumably you would have paid CT on your current home ( as your sole residence) for that same period

mooks

Thank you both for your helpful responses.

I'm actually pretty shocked/surprised that it works this way - so does this mean that a tenant can only serve notice that ends on the last day of their normal rental period? I'm sure that when I rented in the past, when I handed in notice I could serve it on any day of the month and pro-rate the rent. I've come across more than a few LLs who insist that you move in on a certain date - so if for argument's sake, this date fell just two days after your normal rental period, you'd have to pay the full month's rent on the old property and would also have to pay for the cost of Council Tax, as well as the cost of rent and Council Tax on the new property?

Not disagreeing - I'll be the first to accept that in so many cases, the law may be unfair but it doesn't stop it being the law.

I'll hope in the meantime that the council makes a concession, but thank you for your advice.

Doozergirl

That's right. When you move, you have to try and negotiate the dates with both landlords. The place you move from might be more flexible with letting you stay longer than the required notice if you pay pro-rata, but official notice periods are always rent months.

mooks

Thank you - while it's frustrating, it's useful to know. I'll wait and see what the council says...

Ulfar

Even if you were liable you can advise the council of the date you moved out and into your new property.

They will charge your up to the move date on the old address and from that date on the new, they will give an exemption for you not being resident at the old property from the date of your move to the date the tenancy legally ended.