Liability for council tax after early termination.

CIS

mfranklanduk wrote: »

Hi all,
The house was unfurnished so I assume we would be able to receive a discount from the council for the house being empty for the duration of the 16 days. We also have our final council tax bill up to the moving out date which has all been paid.

That depends on the local authority, some only offer a 0% discount for unoccupied/unfurnished properties.

00ec25

mfranklanduk wrote: »

Hi all,


Thanks for your advice.


We have written confirmation from the Landlord that the tenancy agreement ended on the 15th September when we moved out of the property. and the new tenants started their agreement 16 days later when they moved in.


The house was unfurnished so I assume we would be able to receive a discount from the council for the house being empty for the duration of the 16 days. We also have our final council tax bill up to the moving out date which has all been paid.


It isn't a major problem we will obviously pay the remaining if needs be but I just wanted the position clarified more than anything.

Your legal liability to pay CT ended on 15th Sept as you have written evidence that your tenancy ended on that date.

Liability for CT is very rigidly defined in statute law so if you are not in a tenancy you cannot be liable. Liability then reverts to the next in line under the hierarchy of liability, and in the absence of an occupant for 16 days, that would mean it is the LL, not you as the ex tenant, nor the new person as they have not yet taken up occupation under a tenancy.

Nothing to stop the LL claiming any discount available for those 16 days if that council offers one for unfurnished & unoccupied properties (not all do so)

even if your LL tries to say you should pay then your contract has finished and he has no legal basis on which to claim against you at all. Statute law always trumps contract law, but your contract has ended anyway so the LL has no leg to stand on.

EDIT. I'll add weasel words: the above assumes that your tenancy ended on 15th Sept. That means the LL has used those words in writing and obviously you have not paid any rent covering any period after the 15th

mfranklanduk

We have in writing that the landlord is happy for us to end our agreement early and confirmation that we will be moving out of the property on the 15th September.
We have been excellent tenants for the past 5 years and never been late or missed a rent payment and kept the house in excellent condition even re decorating it a couple of months before we left. which he has said himself.

I think it will be better speaking to the council tax office about this.

CIS

mfranklanduk wrote: »

We have in writing that the landlord is happy for us to end our agreement early and confirmation that we will be moving out of the property on the 15th September.
We have been excellent tenants for the past 5 years and never been late or missed a rent payment and kept the house in excellent condition even re decorating it a couple of months before we left. which he has said himself.

I think it will be better speaking to the council tax office about this.

That's the best course of action, specifically point out to the local authority that you have an agreed end of tenancy date in writing. If the tenancy had not ended when you vacated then you would have been regarded as the 'non-resident owner' for council tax purposes and remained liable. As the tenancy did however end then you have no further council tax liability past that date.

lincroft1710

mfranklanduk wrote: »

We have in writing that the landlord is happy for us to end our agreement early and confirmation that we will be moving out of the property on the 15th September.

Is the date of the end of the agreement recorded as 15 September, rather than this just being the date you said you would vacate.

mfranklanduk

Thank you all for your advice it is most appreciated.


I will have to take a look at the exact wording in the documents when I get home this evening. My partner dealt with most of this as I work away most of the time but she assures me that she has it all in writing.


The Landlord did say he would not charge us rent for the 16 days that the house was not occupied however if as you say the contract has ended on the 15th then no more rent payments would be made. Our rent payments were at the end of each month so we had made a rent payment on the 29th August which covered us up to the end of September anyway.


Once again thank you all for your help and I will keep everyone updated as to the outcome.