Council tax on HMO

kittiwoz

I live in a house with five other people. Although the contract is shared we are seperate households so under the new definition the house is an HMO. Four of us are exempted person with regard to council tax as we are students but the other two are not.

I was given to understand under the old definitions (when we would not have been an HMO) It was the case that those two would have been liable for the council tax on the whole of the property but that in an HMO (by the old definition tenants on seperate contracts) the landlord would have been served the council tax bill and had to recover it from the tenants BUT that council tax would only have been payable on the percentage of the property rented by the liable tenants, as if the property were divided into seperate flats on which council tax was levied seperately.

Does the same apply to the current definition of an HMO? My housemates are being charged between them the full council tax bill for the entire property.

Tassotti

The property has always been an HMO. The only thing to have changed is the licensing. The property MAY now need a license if it has 3 floors or more. It still may need one anyway.

BobProperty

I was under the impression that as a generalisation, if it was an HMO the LA looked to the Landlord to pay the Council Tax. More from a practicality point of view than anything else. It may depend on local policy.

Tassotti

LL responsible for CT if tenants on separate agreements