Landlord wants us to lie about Council Tax

wacklepudding

Hi,


Three of my friends and I moved into a new house recently and I just received a request from my landlord to only put two of our names on the council tax rather than all four of us. I asked her why but she wasn't particularly clear. She explained it was for 'licensing reasons' however I'm uneasy about this if it will be detrimental to any of us.


Is this legal and if not is there any reason why we shouldn't do it?

Pixie5740

Are you in Scotland by any chance?

My guess would be that you are renting what should be a licensed HMO but your landlord doesn't have a licence.

fierystormcloud

wacklepudding wrote: »

Hi,

Three of my friends and I moved into a new house recently and I just received a request from my landlord to only put two of our names on the council tax rather than all four of us. I asked her why but she wasn't particularly clear. She explained it was for 'licensing reasons' however I'm uneasy about this if it will be detrimental to any of us.

Is this legal and if not is there any reason why we shouldn't do it?

Don't know why she would want to do this, but many people/families only have the council tax bill in one name. Makes no odds as long as it's paid.

Maybe she is worried about the council thinking it's a HMO?

Is it?

Person_one

If four of you are unrelated and living in the house it should be licensed as a HMO, its clearly not and she's trying to get you to help her break the law.

When you get one of these in the post don't be tempted to lie:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/household-enquiry-form

Guest101

Obvious caveat is if you don't agree the LL will likely evict you at some point

csgohan4

ask for a big discount

wacklepudding

It's England. And also yes, it's an HMO.

Pixie5740

Which council in England?

It's not illegal for you to put one, two, three or four of your names on the council tax bill as long as you pay the correct amount of council tax for the property.

It's your landlord who is probably up to something shady and/or illegal and/or is an eejit. If she's trying to hide the number of occupants from the council which of her other legal obligations is she willfully ignoring?

CIS

With it being a Council Tax HMO then any responsibility falls on to the landlord to actually declare you to the council as being resident.

It is true that not declaring residents in itself is not illegal however if it leads to a discount or exemption being claimed that is wrong then an offence may be committed by the landlord. The council may also serve a legal notice on the landlord for full details of the occupants if they wish to confirm the liability is correct - this is subject to a penalty notice on the landlord if not then provided.

If it's just that she wants you to tell the council that two of you are there as residents then I'd agree that she is most likely trying to fiddle so the property doesn't get flagged up as a HMO for licensing purposes. It may also be an attempt to get away with only declaring part of the rental income.

Craig

wacklepudding

Thanks Craig. So, just to be clear, it is the landlord, rather than us as tenants, who is liable if we go along with what she says and only put two names on the council tax.


Also, would not being able to show we paid council tax effect us in any other way? For example our credit score?

Pixie5740

Credit score? You mean the numbers made up by credit reference agencies which no lender can see never mind uses?

Council tax isn't reported to the credit reference agencies unless you fall into arrears.