Renting and council tax

lilclaire

Good point, I hadn't thought of that

Say we rented for 6-12 months, with a view to buy after that, where would we stand then? Can we not just obtain a reference from him? Or is this something I should ask him about?
I'm confused again now!

(Yes we did discuss the length of tenancy, he said we would have sole tenancy for the length of time we state, i.e 6 months then a roll on month on month...)

amichael

Is he really registered for council tax at that property and paying fully ? I think you can check with the council (?).

Isn't that a way every landlord can do it and effectively avoid the connection into the govt tax dept. and therefore avoid paying any tax ?

Also I can't believe it's not against the law to fill the council registrar and state some one else is living there when there is in fact 2/3 or maybe 4 other people living there.

Just to clear a small point in my mind. He's got a 3 bed house which he lets out on a room by room basis and you are basicallt taking the WHOLE house for £400 or is it just one room for £400 pcm. In which case you will be sharing with two other people.

silvercar

Isn't that a way every landlord can do it and effectively avoid the connection into the govt tax dept. and therefore avoid paying any tax ?

Also I can't believe it's not against the law to fill the council registrar and state some one else is living there when there is in fact 2/3 or maybe 4 other people living there.

The point is that it is the landlord who is committing offences not the tenant.

lilclaire

Its a 3 bed semi and he originally asked if we would be willing to share it with other potential tenants, as he was wondering about the council tax situation... we said we would prefer to rent the whole house from him and he was ok with this - he did then state that we could have the whole house on an initial 6 month let.

Now I am worried that he isn't even registered to pay council tax and that we will have no proof of our residency for the time we stay there for future mortgage applications etc!

What do I do now? Or shall I forget the whole thing, it seemed like such a good deal at the start as we seemed to be helping each other out but now I am worried and confused about the amount of questions raised!

seven-day-weekend

Just a small point....if the landlord does not live thre you automatically become tenants AFAIK, rather than lodgers (but of course this is better for you!

I really would ask on https://www.landlordzone.com