Moved out of shared house - big council tax problem. Advice?

2.7182818

I was a student up until last summer. I moved out of a room in a shared house (joint tenancy) on the 1st of July. Having never dealt with council tax before, I did not know that I had a 21 day period in which to notify the council of my departure, and did not do so.

Fast-forward to now - two letters finally get redirected from the (now uninhabited) old house, addressed to myself and one other previous tenant. A Magistrate's court summons, dated 8th of October, and a follow-up letter dated 5th of November informing me that I now owe around £2000 (1400 in council tax and 500 or so in fees relating to court fines and council admin fees). I can only assume that the other tenants notified the council of their departure in good time.

I found on a council tax FAQ section of Southampton council's webpage (not where I was living, but the only place I could find related comments) that the landlord and tenant(s) hold equal responsibility for informing the council who moves in and out, and when. Am I now obliged to pay council tax for the long period I was not inhabiting the building, just because I didn't notify the council of my moving date?

The summons was sent first class, but not recorded / signed for (and there was nobody living in the property to receive it, it just lay on the mat for months, it seems), so surely I can't be liable for my non-appearance in court, and the £500 fine stemming from that?

During the time I lived there, I assume we must have received a council tax bill for £0.00 (entirely student household), but this is not something that passed before my eyes at any point, so I had no idea of any personal involvement required in dealing with such matters. I appreciate that the £100 council admin fine is somewhat deserved (assuming no landlord liability), for my lack of notification, but is it possible that I won't be held liable for all this incorrect council tax / court fines?

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Thanks hugely in advance to anyone who has any advice for me - this is the last thing I needed to discover on Christmas Eve when visiting family, and having already extended my overdraft / set up a credit card just to make it through the Christmas squeeze...

Thrugelmir

2.7182818 wrote: »

The summons was sent first class, but not recorded / signed for (and there was nobody living in the property to receive it, it just lay on the mat for months, it seems), so surely I can't be liable for my non-appearance in court, and the £500 fine stemming from that?

The summons was served to your last known address. The fact that you neither informed the Council or had a redirection notice put on the mail is your responsibility. So the court will have no sympathy in this regard. As common sense should apply.

2.7182818

I suppose, although not quite the verdict I was hoping for, that makes sense. It's unfortunate that a mistake born of naivety has come back to bite me quite so hard at such a time.

What about the council tax bill for the time when I wasn't occupying the property, assuming I can provide evidence that I moved out on the 1st of July?

G_M

You are not responsile for CT if you are not resident. So it is up to you to prove you had moved out.

Students are also exempt from CT, so you would have no CT to pay for the period you were officially a student provided you had registered as a student with the council.

However, the time to bring all this to the court's attention was.... at the hearing.

malcolmffc

Nonsense to say you are liable for CT for a property you weren't living in and didn't own. Send proof you moved to a different address to the council and don't pay a penny. This happened to me once when I was a student and I managed to get the council to waive the bill, even after the court judgment.

Nice username by the way - presume you're a maths student?

spacey2012

Who is paying the council tax where you live now ?

CIS

Nonsense to say you are liable for CT for a property you weren't living in and didn't own

You can remain liable for council tax on a property you are not resident in and don't own.

gfplux

When you moved in you registered with the council you were a student. ( you provided proof of this with forms from your college/uni)
When you moved out you became liable (as you were no longer a student) for council tax at the address you moved to.
Show proof of payment of council tax at your new address and the rest is simples.

2.7182818

gfplux wrote: »

When you moved out you became liable (as you were no longer a student) for council tax at the address you moved to.
Show proof of payment of council tax at your new address and the rest is simples.

Kind of. My girlfriend and I spent the summer with her mother, so we didn't pay any council tax. Now we've moved into a house with individual tenancies for each room, for which council tax is paid by the owner, rather than the tenants.

My landlord/landlady were very nice people. I have no doubt that if I explain the hassle I've been through, that they'd be happy to help me prove that I moved out in July. Would a letter from them, confirming my leaving date, satisfy the council? Especially given that, in my absence and due to the house remaining empty, the council tax bill would have to be covered by them.

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All the replies so far have been incredibly helpful and informative. I'm feeling a lot calmer about the whole situation. Not because I'm downplaying the severity, but because I feel as though I have a fuller understanding of my position, thanks to all of you.

CIS

My landlord/landlady were very nice people. I have no doubt that if I explain the hassle I've been through, that they'd be happy to help me prove that I moved out in July. Would a letter from them, confirming my leaving date, satisfy the council?

You need the landlord to confirm a) when you moved out and b) your tenancy end date.