problems with council tax, landlord/agency and breach of tenancy agreement by landlor

vickymo

I have a tenancy agreement which stipulates that landlord is liable to pay council tax. However, after 4 years of living in the property, we received a letter from council, in which me and my partner were asked to pay the council tax from 2012 onwards (total being approximately £1000/year, therefore a total amount of around £2000), otherwise we will be called in court. After first calls, a tax officer wrote to us telling us that on the basis of the sent scanned copy of our tenancy agreement showing clearly that landlord agreed and signed to pay the council tax himself (plus water bills), we were exempted from paying any council tax fees. Me and my partner were very happy that we solved the problem, and after a while, when our neighbours complained about same situation, we advice them to do same thing as we did (send a scanned copy of their tenancy agreement to the council tax). In less than an hour after our neighbour did this (sending via email their tenancy agreement and asking to be exempt from paying the council tax as landlord agreed in contract to pay it), on [FONT=&quot]15 July 2013,[/FONT] I have received an email letter from the same tax officer saying the following (and I quote):
"With regards to your email and the tenancy agreement supplied I have taken advice from my Team Leader regarding the situation. As we are not party to the tenancy agreement, and liability is based on the occupancy - which in this case shows that you are liable for the whole rent of the property, I have taken the decision to make you liable again.
You are liable in law, and should take up any disagreements over the tenancy agreement with the landlord. A Council Tax bill will be issued shortly
Regards
David M.
Local Taxation Officer”

We were very distraught at this news of course, so we contacted again the council. Next day they reply via email sending us a section of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, which says the following:

"A person is liable to pay Council Tax in respect of a chargeable dwelling on any day if, on that day,-

A) he is resident of the dwelling and has a freehold interest
he is such a resident and has a leasehold interest
C) he is both such a resident and a statutory or secure tenant
D) he is such a resident and has a contractual licence to occupy the dwelling
E) he is such a resident
F) he is the owner of the dwelling

I replied to them by arguing that I am renting a HMO, and law sais clearly that if the rented dwelling is classed as HMO, the owner rather than the occupiers will be liable for payment of Council Tax. I stressed that I am covered by a contract and law, therefore it should be cleared for them that I should not be made liable for that tax.


The next day (16.07.2013) they replied the following:
"Dear Ms Mo,

Further to your email, I am writing in regards to the above property.

Our records have no notes to indicate the above property is a HMO.

In order to resolve the matter and receive clarification on who should be held liable, I have requested an Inspection of the property.

I have forwarded your details to the relevant department and they will be in contact to arrange an appointment.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

M. Bhojani
Local Taxation Officer
Barnet Council"

I was happy that someone from VOA may come and sort the things out eventually, but since then nobody contacted us. On the contrary, I received the bill again from council tax with the same sum, dated 16.07.2013, which is the same date this lady (Ms Mariam Bhojani) replied to me, assuring me that someone will come to assess the property. The landlord & estate agency refuse to abide to the contract therefore he doesn't want to pay any council tax whatsoever (another ruthless thing the agency did was that they tried for many years to keep the landlord “secret”, even I know this is not legal either. Every time a problem appeared, they always refused to tell us and the other tenancies of the HMO who the landlord is. The person they were claiming is the property’s administrator, turned out to be the landlord in fact. But this is another story)
I would like to know if I can sue the council tax on the basis of failing to enforce the law upon the right person liable to pay, or to sue the landlord directly. I do not want to pay this bill as had I known we need to pay the council tax as well, we wouldn't have moved in the property to begin with. The rent is already too high for the quality of the rented property. It seems that neither council nor landlord/agency are willing to listen to us, or doing something righteous. Please advise,

Thank you,
Vicky Mo

CIS

I was happy that someone from VOA may come and sort the things out eventually, but since then nobody contacted us

The VOA have no say in the matter regarding a HMO - the inspector will be a council tax inspector.

I would like to know if I can sue the council tax on the basis of failing to enforce the law upon the right person liable to pay

If you went down the route of legal action it would be via the Ombudsman or High Court however you really need to try the appeal route through a Valuation Tribunal first,

The council however are under a legal duty to protect public funds and cannot make a decision without full information. The law is really on yourself to prove you are not liable.

After first calls, a tax officer wrote to us telling us that on the basis of the sent scanned copy of our tenancy agreement showing clearly that landlord agreed and signed to pay the council tax himself (plus water bills), we were exempted from paying any council tax fees

An agreement in the contract has no bearing on the matter of council tax liability - liability in this case is determined with respect to section 6 of the local government finance act 1992 subject to the exceptions given in section 8.

A person who has a rental liability on a whole property would not fall under the definition of a HMO unless the property has been built or adapted specifically for multiple occupancy.

It sounds in this case that it isn't a HMO and therefore you need to look at taking civil action against the landlord for breach of contract.