problem regarding council tax

daveskey69

hello there..and thanks in advance for any help.
ok..first question..who's responsibility is it to ensure that the rented accomodation is correctly banded for council tax purposes?
is it the landlord's or the tenants?
I fully realise that it is the tenants responsibility to PAY the council tax.
In feb 2005, my wife and I moved into a granny flat attached to the house of our landlord. he assured us we didnt have to pay council tax, as he paid it for the whole property.
A few months ago, however, we put a cliam in for housing benefit, which we have been awarded.
But during this process, it became apparent that the council viewed our granny flat as a separate property, and told us it had not been banded at all.
So now, we receive a bill for 2 and a half thousand pounds that goes back to the time we moved in...!!!
My point is this...we never recieved a council tax bill until recently, so how can i pay what i am not billed for?
and...surely it is NOT my responsibility to make sure the property i am renting has been banded, and everything is in order..am i right in thinking that>?
anyways, as i said..thanks in advance for any help.
Regards
Dave

CIS

It is the responsibility of the occupier to ensure that Council Tax is paid on a property where it is due - the fact that a property had not been raised with the VO until a later date does not remove liability .

for example: when a new property is built and occupied , it can sometimes be several months before the Council are notified and then several further months can go by before the property is billed - once this happens the bill is bakcdated to the date the property has been banded from initialy.

daveskey69

are you saying that we should have gone to the council and asked them to make sure that our little flat was correctly banded?
surely this is the responsibility of the landlord.
and, i am NOT denying that it is our responsibility to pay the council tax.