Council Tax Arrears (need help pretty badly)

Itsallgood1

Hello everyone, sorry if this is posted in the wrong area.

Ive just received a letter from a bailiff company demanding I pay £1188 in council tax arrears.

A little background info:

I rented a property in Newcastle's West End from September 28th to February 2nd. During this time I paid all of my council tax. I ended the tenancy with the landlord mutually on the 1st and moved out on the second. 2 weeks prior to this I informed the council I would no longer be living in the property. They acknowledged this and I thought the matter was closed.

Several months ago (April) I receive a letter demanding I pay council tax, despite not living their anymore (I now live about 350 miles away from Newcastle). I told them that I was renting, the contract ended and I informed them about this. The lady over the phone told me it simply didn't matter if I was living there or not, I had to pay council tax. This was after I told her I didn't actually own the property, my landlord does, I was just renting the property. She informed me it did not matter if I was renting or not, even if I had left I still had to pay.

I cant possibly imagine that being the case, imagine if that WAS the case wouldn't councils across the country continually force people who have ended their tenancy and left to pay continue paying..? Either way I got through to a second woman who simply said "I will look into it". From then on I heard nothing, until I get a letter through the door today saying they've passed the debt onto debt collectors who are demanding the above amount.

Any advice you can give would be great. Do you really have to pay tax for a property you've rented AFTER the tenancy contract has ended? Ive been told an absolute no several times but Newcastle City Council seem to think differently.

HappyMJ

Once the tenancy has finished your liability to council tax ends.

Itsallgood1

even if the tenancy was ended early?

skyshadow

You only owe money for your current residential property. If the council want to be funny about tell them you will happily pay for the previous property but you assume this means you will get a refund for the council tax paid for where you actually lived during this period.

Bottom line is council cannot double charge you for 2 different properties as you only live in 1 of them. This is only applicable if you OWN multiple properties but being a tenant you can only have 1 address.

Itsallgood1

Then how exactly can they get away with this? considering they are sending me letters to my CURRENT address. Like a clear violation of the law.

Sharon87

I would give them the name and address of the landlord if you still have it, and tell them that it's his property, you moved out a certain date and he needs to pay it.

I would send proof if you have any of where you have been living since then and if you have any proof from when you informed them you'd be moving out

Marktheshark

Do not the Bailiffs in, they can not force entry or use locksmiths.
They can use threats and lies about locksmiths.

CIS

Bottom line is council cannot double charge you for 2 different properties as you only live in 1 of them. This is only applicable if you OWN multiple properties but being a tenant you can only have 1 address.

That's not correct - being a tenant of one property does not mean you can't be liable for council tax at more than one property.

You need to check with the council as to what exactly is happening - usually what will happen in these cases is that the landlord will have given a tenancy agreement which shows that you continued to hold the tenancy after you left and stated they haven't release you early from it. This situation crops up regularly and you would need to show that you were no longer liable for the charge - the easiest way is to get the landlord to confirm to the council the end of tenancy date.

It's not a debt collector the council are using, it's an enforcement agent (formerly bailiffs) with a lot more powers than a debt collector.

pheonix_one_day

I agree with CIS from experience.

My partner and I rented a house in the south for family residence. He got a job and worked away so rented another property 200 miles away and paid the council tax there. Two properties, each with his name as tenant and each had it's own council tax responsibilities.

Do you have written proof of the tenancy agreement ending that you can send to the council?
I hope you get it sorted but I would also be forwarding everything to the landlord (or rental agency) address and chasing them up on it too.

skyshadow

CIS wrote: »

That's not correct - being a tenant of one property does not mean you can't be liable for council tax at more than one property.

You need to check with the council as to what exactly is happening - usually what will happen in these cases is that the landlord will have given a tenancy agreement which shows that you continued to hold the tenancy after you left and stated they haven't release you early from it. This situation crops up regularly and you would need to show that you were no longer liable for the charge - the easiest way is to get the landlord to confirm to the council the end of tenancy date.

It's not a debt collector the council are using, it's an enforcement agent (formerly bailiffs) with a lot more powers than a debt collector.

Sorry my post was poorly worded. What I meant to convey was someone can only be resident in 1 property at once so the current residential address is where the liability will lie. Of course there are exceptions to this but if the OP has paid council tax elsewhere for their residential property (discounting any 2nd homes etc they had given the way the post was worded) then if they can prove they didn't live at the old address during that period they cannot be charged concurrently for both.

Itsallgood1

Thank you for your replies everybody.

I have a number of emails from the landlord that confirm the date we moved out (final meter / water readings which state the DATE I moved out on) etc. I'm also 100% sure we signed the end of tenancy agreement, but alas I cant find that paper work yet. Since we have made it clear to the council that we no longer reside at that address I get the feeling the council has tried to charge the landlord council tax but hes either ignored it or refused, meaning the debt is back on our hands.

Either way I will be phoning up to discuss this with them once again.

Lastly no, I most certainly did not rent 2 properties at the same time. Newcastle ---> my mothers house ----> current house.