Council Tax Bill Received - Supposed to be paid by landlord?

MrJester

Hi so recently I registered on the electoral roll at my current address, for credit report and such.
Shortly after, today I have received a council tax bill telling me how to pay and the amounts etc.

This is supposedly paid for by my landlord/property agent, all their properties rented claim to come with this included.
Bear in mind it does not say this specifically in my contract (which mind you is about 3 pages long..:o)

I've emailed them and hopefully have an acceptable response tomorrow about what to do about it. From what I know now, this agent I'm with is particularly dim. They can't seem to understand basic requests for a start.
It just wouldn't surprise me that they wouldn't even bother about sorting out the council tax for this property and I'm worried about proving I'm not liable to pay it.

Just to be clear and get some advice before/incase this goes tits up, where exactly do I stand? What are my rights in this situation? If I had to tell my agent to sort out the tax and they refuse to or something, and they'd just say "prove it"....

Never going with an agent like this again :mad:

BitterAndTwisted

The letting agent is not "yours". They do not represent you, they are acting for and on behalf of the landlord.

If you have nothing in your contract which confirms the landlord will be paying the Council Tax then the bill will be yours. You say "all their properties rented claim to come with this included" but do you have any documentary evidence of this?

theartfullodger

Are you renting a flat or house, or is it just a room??

Does the tenancy agreement state council tax included??

Do you have copy of advert??

MrJester

theartfullodger wrote: »

Are you renting a flat or house, or is it just a room??

Does the tenancy agreement state council tax included??

Do you have copy of advert??

Just a room in a 7 bed.
I don't have a copy of the advert, no, just tried to bring it up on spare room but of course they deleted that a while ago.
ALL their other room adverts for rent say "Council tax included", and had since I was enquiring with them.

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The letting agent is not "yours". They do not represent you, they are acting for and on behalf of the landlord.

If you have nothing in your contract which confirms the landlord will be paying the Council Tax then the bill will be yours. You say "all their properties rented claim to come with this included" but do you have any documentary evidence of this?

So is it the landlord that's supposed to be paying the council tax bill?
Yes the evidence as I just stated, any advert of the property agents ALL say "Council tax included".

G_M

theartfullodger wrote: »

Are you renting a flat or house, or is it just a room??

Does the tenancy agreement state council tax included??

Do you have copy of advert??

Or is the property an HMO? ie there are a number of different unrelated people living there in seperate rooms?

edit: sounds like an HMO. Landlord is legally responsible for CT.

Contact the council and check the property is registered with them as an HMO.

MrJester

G_M wrote: »

Or is the property an HMO? ie there are a number of different unrelated people living there in seperate rooms?

edit: sounds like an HMO. Landlord is leggaly responsible for CT.

Contact the council and check the property is registered with them as an HMO.

Yes there are 6 or 7 unrelated people living here in separate rooms.
So because of that, the landlord has to sort the council tax? And charge the tenant adequately? (So as was described to me, including in my rent cost)

G_M

JoeJester wrote: »

Yes there are 6 or 7 unrelated people living here in separate rooms.
So because of that, the landlord has to sort the council tax? And charge the tenant adequately? (So as was described to me, including in my rent cost)

Correct. See the link in my post.

The LL must register the property with the council as an HMO, and meet various requirements (fire safety, minimum number of bathrooms etc).

MrJester

G_M wrote: »

Correct. See the link in my post.

The LL must register the property with the council as an HMO, and meet various requirements (fire safety, minimum number of bathrooms etc).

Ah, wonderful, thank you for that info. It also states on that link that I could reclaim rent if they haven't declared it as a HMO, which this property is. And I have a huge suspicion they haven't at all, apparently the landlord just pops in the property late at night to pick up post etc, so probably declares that he just lives here.
I've started writing "NOT KNOWN, RETURN TO SENDER" on all unknown post that comes here to put back in post box, should stop that!

Thats really helpful thanks so much, got some legality on my side to hit them with if they come at me
I will see what they do/say first, the agent, and go from there

MrJester

G_M wrote: »

Correct. See the link in my post.

The LL must register the property with the council as an HMO, and meet various requirements (fire safety, minimum number of bathrooms etc).

By the way, I just donated a £1 to Myeloma UK I was so happy with your response! Cheers!

G_M

If the council have sent you a CT demand then it is likely the property is not registered. It is also likely that they will continue to chase you for the CT until they are informed it is an HMO.

So contact the council, ask for the HMO Officer, and check, discuss, get advice.

MrJester

G_M wrote: »

If the council have sent you a CT demand then it is likely the property is not registered. It is also likely that they will continue to chase you for the CT until they are informed it is an HMO.

So contact the council, ask for the HMO Officer, and check, discuss, get advice.

Excellent advice, thank you GM! Time to get me some rent moneys back then..