Renting - Not paid council tax for 6 mnths

lejardinier

I've been renting for almost 6 months now through a reputable agency. Despite the agencys wording that they will 'endeavour' to contact the utilities and council about the new tenancy, they did absolutely nothing. And so I decided to do nothing also and see what happens. The gas/elect were soon on my tail and I have no issues in paying them. Guilt recently persuaded me to call up the water company and it turns out the landlord is actually paying for that. Phew.

This leaves council tax. We are renting a whole 3 bed semi so I doubt the landlord will be paying for us. I think I need to do something about it.
Options:
1/ Will I get fined if I approach the council now and say ' Hey, my rental agency did sweet FA, I've buried my head in the sand about it and I've not paid for 6 months. Can I pay £900 right now? No hard feelings?"
2/ If I ignore it, will it go away? The rental contract actually ends in about a month.
3/ If I successfully ignore it, can the council come looking for me later on and destroy me?

We are trying to sell our old house and I'm still paying all the utilities for it. So I don't feel particularly pro-active about paying for double.

Thanks for reading and any advice is welcomed.

^!£$&

I had to contact the council to tell them I was in the property and they sent me a breakdown of monthly payments. I think you should contact them asap! I'm sure they'll find out eventually and come after you for payments!

lincroft1710

You won't get fined, the council will gladly accept your payment, it won't go away, the council will come looking for you or possibly bailiffs will, but they won't "destroy" you.