Council tax for mandatory HMO - who is liable

Zabki

So confused at the moment on who is liable for council tax for a mandatory HMO???

All the advice pages like Shelter etc states the the Landlord is liable for the council tax for HMO's. However the council is trying to chase the tenant for council tax despit it being licenced as a mandatory HMO (bedsit with own kitchenette but sharing bathroom), licence valid until July 2015.

However some pages seems to suggest if the bedsit has been revalued for council tax and placed in band A then despite falling under HMO licensing rules the tenant become liable. They are trying to make out that the band ruling turned the bedsit from being part of a dwelling to being a dwelling in its own right despite still sharing bathrooms and come under mandatory licensing.

Is this right and if so where is the legisltaion supporting this as the only law I can find is from The Council Tax (Liability for Owners) (Amendment) Regulations 1993 which states that the landlord is liable.

Also the tenants contract says that the council tax is included in the rent, had it not been deemed an HMO this would have been irrelevant I know but how is it when it comes to an HMO?

So now when the landlord has failed to pay who should the council chase, the landlord or the tenant?

anselld

Check first if the bedsit has its own banding ....
http://cti.voa.gov.uk/cti/inits.asp

Zabki

Yes as above it has been band A since April 2013.

CIS

If it's a council tax HMO then the landlord is liable for the council tax charge - council tax (liability for owners) regulations 1992 (as amended).

However some pages seems to suggest if the bedsit has been revalued for council tax and placed in band A then despite falling under HMO licensing rules the tenant become liable. T

If the property is individually banded then it could still be HMO but it's going to be more difficult to prove. If the council won't agree with you the other option is to appeal to a valuation tribunal.
If it has shared facilities and is not self contained then it's unlikely that it should be banded separately and it's worth having a word with the Valuation Office regarding this. How many properties are their in this situation in the building ?

So now when the landlord has failed to pay who should the council chase, the landlord or the tenant?

At the moment, whoever the council deem is liable for the charge.

Zabki

CIS wrote: »

If it's a council tax HMO then the landlord is liable for the council tax charge - council tax (liability for owners) regulations 1992 (as amended).

If the property is individually banded then it could still be HMO but it's going to be more difficult to prove. If the council won't agree with you the other option is to appeal to a valuation tribunal.
If it has shared facilities and is not self contained then it's unlikely that it should be banded separately and it's worth having a word with the Valuation Office regarding this. How many properties are their in this situation in the building ?
At the moment, whoever the council deem is liable for the charge.

The whole property is licenced as and HMO with the council, 11 are allowed to live in the 8 bedsits in total in the whole building. So they definitely fall under mandatory licensing requirements.

Some of them had en suites prior to my friend moving in but they were removed after a council inspection, they were removed before 2013.

When checking tax band you can see that the whole building was taxed as one dwelling and then in April 2013 all 8 were seperately put into band A.

So does this make HMO liability low void? Should we appeal to Valuation office? Or is the landlord liable and we can tell the council to pursue him instead? Or are they right and we should chase the amount from the landlord since this was added in to her rent?

CIS

If the council are happy that the one property is a HMO then it's surprising that the Valuation Office have it as separate properties (although I have seen all sorts of variations). I would go down that route with the council and ask why a licensing HMO designation (which has to be on an individual property) has been applied to multiple 'properties' - there's a logical flaw in there/

From what you have said I would be tending towards the property being a HMO and the banding is incorrect.I would contact your local valuation office tomorrow and discuss an inspection with them as it appears the properties have probably changed without them being aware. I would also contact the council and advise them of the situation.

As it stands though, if they are happy that you are liable the council can pursue you in the meantime.

Whilst you are paying council tax then this breaks the contract with the landlord in respect of him agreeing to make payment for you. This doesn't alter the legal, council tax, definition of who is liable for the council tax but it is a contractual agreement with the landlord which needs to be addressed with him and you can pursue him for breaching this.

Zabki

Thanks, with the info in this thread we have managed to sort it out by getting the landlord to reimburse whilst contacting the Valuation Office to check whether the re banding was correct.