Student Houses - does the landlord pay council tax?

olly300

Numberlock have you considered the fact that the vast majority of university students get all or the majority of their income from the government via loans. These loans are paid back over many years or in some cases never.

If they were charged council tax all it would mean is as a taxpayer you would be paying for it in another way.

Mind_the_Gap

Where did I state that students should pay CT??? I would never advocate that students pay CT! A word of advice - take the time to read other people's posts carefully before you make such inaccurate and inane comments.[/B]

I did read what you posted. I did not say that you said students should pay CT, although people would be forgiven for thinking that you did. The whole thrust of your whinge was that councils miss out on revenue since student homes do not generate it. Presumably you think LLs should always pay it for them? That is of course rather naive since were they obliged to, they would simply factor it into the rent and rents would rise.

Councils subsidise the cost of providing services to the student-heavy areas of cities from the other areas, and to be honest, most students do not need schools (they tend not to have children) or libraries or sports facilities (they have them on campus). They pay the same for public transport as everyone else. Hmmm, a tad condescending....

Please explain what is 'condescending' about the facts as I have presented them.

In any case there is little point moaning on this forum about the system - write to your MP if you disagree so strongly!Will do. Thanks for the gracious advice.

You are more than welcome. I would have thought it was obvious, but always happy to be of service:)

Muhasib

olly300 wrote: »

Numberlock have you considered the fact that the vast majority of university students get all or the majority of their income from the government via loans. These loans are paid back over many years or in some cases never.

If they were charged council tax all it would mean is as a taxpayer you would be paying for it in another way.

If Council Tax were levied on students (not that I am advocating that) then the tax payer would not be paying for it in another way as you state; the cost has fallen onto the student and eventually their student loan would be repaid (provided they earn above the repayment threshold).

If you were saying students would receive a grant to pay council tax then I agree it would just be a circular flow.

The_Palmist

Most of the student houses are cheaper than family houses due to the sheer abundance of them. Yes you are right in same sometimes there are more people in the house than it should be but its because Students [some of them anyway] can't afford to live otherwise. Some of students I knew while in Uni shared rooms on purposes just to save money.
LL make a lot of money from students but there are quite a few risks as well. Students don't pay much rent and cause more damage to a property than regular renting families or couples [ I am speaking from experience here]. There are always a lot more houses than students in all major university towns.
If you start a new law getting LL to pay some extra tax, where do you think the money is going to come from. LL will end up increasing the rent and it will be the students [or their parents] who will be exploited in the end. In current times when fees are about to skyrocket, that is the last thing we need.
No one is stopping you from buying a load of houses and renting it out to students. Why do you see this as a loophole ?

Why not see this as something which might benefit students and also provide a good business opportunity for local folks ?

Snuggles

Numberlock wrote: »

My problem is with the wealthy LLs who own dozens/scores/hundreds of properties who rent out their properties ONLY to students and by virtue of renting out properties ONLY to students, cause the local council to lose a lot of revenue. Think about it, if a council is not receiving the revenue from many properties that otherwise it would be then the tax burden is not shared fairly and that impacts on everyone else. Seriously, that's fair, is it?

I'm really struggling to see your logic. It makes no difference who owns the properties - wealthy landlords, individual parents of students, students themselves - they still wouldn't pay CT and the council would still lose out. Students will always tend to want to live together rather than in mixed accommodation, just because it's part of the university experience, and when they do that, they're not going to pay CT irrespective of who owns the property.

What about wealthy landlords who own lots of properties and happen to let lots of them to single professionals who get the single person's CT discount. Do you think these LLs are exploiting a loophole to deprive the council of income?

Marvel1

Numberlock wrote: »

Yes, that's my point which I didn't make very well....if this particular landlord has dozens of properties which he ONLY lets out to students then the council is losing a lot of money, surely?

If the same landlord rented all his properties out to regular tenants then the council would receive all monies due. Correct, yes?

Pretty much.

On a seperate issue, ths is why I think students should pay something towards CT, even a 50% discount is better than nothing they still use the same services.