More landlord issues...

MrChips

Hi all,

My girlfriend has just moved out of a shared house (shared with 4 other people). We think the landlord is a bit dodgy and will try and withhold as much of her deposit as possible (based on experience of his nature and what happened to another girl who moved out just before christmas). I am hoping some good advice now will help us to get back what we deserve when he eventually decides to pay it!

My girlfriend was meant to move out at the end of February but the landlord asked her if she could move out on the 21st as he had another tenant lined up. This actually suited her as we had signed a tenancy agreement from 17th February on our new place. However this only gave her 2 days to pack everything and clean!

Between us we got everything out and cleaned as well as we could (thorough hoovering and dusting) and took a few photos as backup. We had a feeling he would try and pocket as much of the deposit as he could for "cleaning" so as I had the day off work I went round to the house the next day and stayed there from 10am as a guest of the 4 remaining occupants to keep an eye on him. He didn't show up until 5.30pm to clean the carpet and then made lots of fuss about how dirty she had left the place (I think for my benefit to justify any later attempt to make cleaning deductions from the deposit). The new girl was moving in at 7pm the same night so if he thought the place was/might be so dirty why did he give himself such little time to prepare it?! He cleaned for a couple of hours (I timed him) and then I left.

Because it is a house of multiple occupation, he is legally responsible for the council tax (I think?) and there is a line in the tenancy agreement that he pays it and takes it out of the deposit when a tenant leaves. However I have been doing some detective work and no council tax has been paid for this address since 2005 (when he bought the property).

So I have a couple questions:
1) How much would he be justified in deducting for 2 hours of moving a carpet cleaner around? As a point of information, he organised a cleaner for £6 an hour (which the tenants have to pay) to clean their kitchen on a weekly basis so is this what we should offer to him? (He brought his carpet cleaner round 2 days before she was due to move out and dumped it in a corner of my girlfriend's room without even asking! She offered to use it on the carpet to save him the trouble but he insisted that she didn't!).

2) What should we do about the council tax issue? We feel a bit aggrieved to be refunding him for council tax he isn't even paying! If he charges for it we will ask for his receipt from the council which I guess he will have difficulty providing.

The house also technically counts as a HMO (3 stories and 5 occupants) which I am quite confidently guessing he hasn't registered.

Thanks in advance...

irnbru_2

MrChips wrote:

2) What should we do about the council tax issue?

Occupants are ultimately responsible for CT.

If it hasn't been paid you will be chased. You will then have to sue, via small claims court, to recover any monies paid to the LL.

MrChips wrote:

The house also technically counts as a HMO (3 stories and 5 occupants) which I am quite confidently guessing he hasn't registered.

... then phone your local council housing office.

MrChips

irnbru wrote:

Occupants are ultimately responsible for CT.

If it hasn't been paid you will be chased. You will then have to sue, via small claims court, to recover any monies paid to the LL.

I'm not sure this is true - point "C" in the table at the bottom of this link seems to indicate the landlord is responsible.

http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/advice_and_benefits/council_tax/ct_liability.htm

I agree with your point about phoning the local council about the HMO situation.

thesaint

The landlord will be liable for the council tax if your girlfriend hasn't been billed. Leave it up to him to pay, he isn't obliged to show any receipts to anyone, it's ultimately up to the council and him.

I would ensure your girlfriend gets her money back before reporting him to anyone with unfounded allegations, because this will inevitably slow up the money due to her.

Wait until he actually writes down any deductions before challenging him, £6 per hour for cleaning is on the cheap side.