Landlord doesn't want to secure deposit, and wants us to pay him for council tax

2bunnies

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

I wouldn't rent a flat from someone who is almost certainly up to something, or several somethings.. or terrifyingly clueless. Are you in England? Scotland has somewhat different rules but tbh this sounds dodgy anywhere!

We're in England.

antrobus wrote: »

That's the game he's playing. He doesn't want there to be a record of your tenancy available to the 'powers that be'. He wants to pretend that he's still living there and not you. The reason; tax evasion, and/or possibly some kind of benefit fraud.

Yeah, we've asked several times for the deposit to be protected and to pay the council tax ourselves, but he's refusing to budge on either of those matters, stating that it would cost him more money, and wouldn't cost us anything either way. At least he's honest about that, I guess. But we have no way of knowing that he will definitely pay the council tax.

stator wrote: »

On the bright side you'll almost certainly get your deposit back since the landlord won't want you reporting him and getting a fine.
If you had a decent tenancy agreement that said he was liable for the council tax then if the council started chasing you, you could always take him to small claims court. If you think you can get the money off him when he loses that is.
If you like to live in a property where you can blackmail the landlord it might be to your advantage.
Personally I think I'd look elsewhere

Yeah, I'll admit that I've been going back and forth. Yesterday we were thinking that we could go ahead with the contract, and if anything goes wrong, we could just take him to court over the unprotected deposit. And today we've decided that it's probably too much of a hassle, and something we'd rather not deal with. Anyway, we've decided not to take the flat. There will be other, better places.

zagubov

2bunnies wrote: »

We're in England.



Yeah, we've asked several times for the deposit to be protected and to pay the council tax ourselves, but he's refusing to budge on either of those matters, stating that it would cost him more money, and wouldn't cost us anything either way. At least he's honest about that, I guess. But we have no way of knowing that he will definitely pay the council tax.



Yeah, I'll admit that I've been going back and forth. Yesterday we were thinking that we could go ahead with the contract, and if anything goes wrong, we could just take him to court over the unprotected deposit. And today we've decided that it's probably too much of a hassle, and something we'd rather not deal with. Anyway, we've decided not to take the flat. There will be other, better places.

You are wise. Keep looking. As regards reporting him, it's your word against his, I doubt you can warn anybody else away. Focus your energy on getting a better option.

2bunnies

G_M wrote: »

If he owns the property then his motive is tax evasion, and/or mortgage fraud and/or benefit fraud.

If he does not own the property he may be sub-letting in breach of his own tenancy (plus some of the above too!).

Thanks for all your info! Yeah, he owns the property I was suspicious about that, so i checked a few days ago.

Mrs36 wrote: »

ETA I just noticed on the Landlordzone thread that the o/p mentions the property is leasehold - I wonder if the terms of his lease forbid letting the property?

That's what I'm thinking now. It might be a combination of tax evasion and not having permission to let the property, because he definitely doesn't want anyone to know that we're renting the property. I guess we'll never know his true intentions.

Cakeguts wrote: »

I know that you have looked on the land registry website about this but what you don't know is that the person who says that he is your landlord actually owns the flat. He could also have looked on the land registry website and found out who owned the flat and be scamming you. Identity theft is a big problem.

Good point, I never even thought of that. But nah, he has a LinkedIn profile that dates back years, and seems pretty reputable, working for some big companies. I'm 99% sure he is who he says he is.

Anyway, we've decided not to take the flat, thanks to everyone's advice. It might have still ended well even if we had taken the flat, but ultimately we weren't prepared to take the risk. Thanks all. :beer:

CIS

Yeah, we've asked several times for the deposit to be protected and to pay the council tax ourselves, but he's refusing to budge on either of those matters, stating that it would cost him more money, and wouldn't cost us anything either way. At least he's honest about that, I guess. But we have no way of knowing that he will definitely pay the council tax

You need to register with the council if you move in - the landlord has no choice in the matter (nor legally do you). The council will then issue a demand notice to you, if he then wants to pay for you then it's possible (but risky as it's still your name on the demand notice - I've seen it go wrong far too many times and had to deal with the fallout from it).

The only way the council tax charge would cost more is if he is claiming a discount he is not entitled to and committing fraud - many councils are cracking down hard these days and do not hesitate to involve the police.

Craig

teddysmum

I would still report him as any institution wishing to check beyond your word, could send in an under cover rep.


Although you are sensibly walking away, someone less savvy could end up helping him with his deceit.

zzzzz

no run for it

Out,_Vile_Jelly

If you really have it in writing that he insists on paying Council Tax himself, I would send a copy of this to the council to alert them to the situation. If the next tenants are less clued up than you, this could save them a lot of hassle.