Flatmate is moving out - council tax

beerinmind

My current flatmate is moving out in 2 days. The council tax bill was split into 10 payments and I pay it through direct debit. My flatmate only stayed for 4 months. Because of council slowness, the first and the only payment so far was only made this month.

Then I requested for a new bill to cover all 4 months he was staying, which i can see online and yet to receive by post. The council said that the second payment for the rest of the updated bill will be taken out of my bank account in one month time.

The guy is not a friend of mine and I don't think I will keep any contacts after he moves out. So I'm worried about getting his half of the council tax.

Even though the second part of the bill will be taken from my bank account in one month, can I ask him to pay me before he moves out? And if he doesn't pay me and disappears, how can I chase on him? What should I do?

Comms69

It's awfully confusing, in terms of how he is legally moving out etc. But what you need to do realistically is forget how the council will collect the money.


Find out the yearly rate, divide by 6, that is what he owes you.


Whether he pays it or not is largely down to him.

beerinmind

I know the sum from the council. So you are saying I absolutely need to make sure he pays before he moves out? And if he doesn't?

Voyager2002

You said that you have ordered a bill for the four months and that you can see it online. So your next step is that you show him this (perhaps by printing it off) and ask him for half the amount. In exchange, you need to give him a receipt saying he paid you his share of the council tax and that you undertake to pass the money on to the council. Should he fail to pay you, then consider a deduction from his deposit or whatever: once has has gone it becomes a civil debt that he owes you, and your chances of collecting it would be fairly slim.

If you do not hold his deposit -- more precisely, if both of you are paying rent to a landlord and you each have your own room -- then it is likely that the flat is an HMO for council tax purposes and the bill should be going to your landlord.

Comms69

beerinmind wrote: »

I know the sum from the council. So you are saying I absolutely need to make sure he pays before he moves out? And if he doesn't?

How do I know??


The guy could be honest as they come.


I've had an old debt start being repaid 8-9 years after the fact; the guy just realised he'd acted badly when I helped him out.


I would try to get payment before he leaves, but in reality there's little you can do to force him.


(I still don't know how he's moving after 4 months, but that's another matter - he has been paying rent right?)

Smodlet

If you will be the sole occupant once the flatmate moves out, you need to apply for the single person's discount on your council tax and tell them the date he moved out. If there will still be at least one other person on the tenancy agreement besides yourself, this will not apply. If it is, in fact an HMO then as already mentioned, your LL should be paying.

Having re-read your post it is not at all clear what your situation is; Comms69 is right. Are you the owner and therefore the LL or a tenant sub letting or what? Either way, if you and he were flat mates, he was a lodger, not a tenant so no deposit would be required by law but could still be taken (if I have been paying sufficient attention to G_M et al's posts)

Comms69

Smodlet wrote: »

If you will be the sole occupant once the flatmate moves out, you need to apply for the single person's discount on your council tax and tell them the date he moved out. If there will still be at least one other person on the tenancy agreement besides yourself, this will not apply. If it is, in fact an HMO then as already mentioned, your LL should be paying.

Unless it's outside the fixed term. But yes it doesn't make sense

CIS

If you will be the sole occupant once the flatmate moves out, you need to apply for the single person's discount on your council tax and tell them the date he moved out. If there will still be at least one other person on the tenancy agreement besides yourself, this will not apply

For clarification - It makes no difference how many people are named on the tenancy agreement for the purposes of single person discount - the relevant question in respect of the 25% discount in this cases is how many people are resident. In this case, if a tenant has left and there is only one remaining resident then the discount applies in this case.

Any tenancy issues regarding fixed term etc only matters where the property is unoccupied and liability is being looked at - this is a different issued to residence, which is looked at for the 25% discount.


The same issues apply if the property is a council tax HMO, the burden of payment etc is then shifted to the landlord but the discount rules remain the same.

lincroft1710

If your flatmate was a lodger rather than a joint tenant, the responsibility for paying Council Tax is yours and he would only owe you whatever you both agreed he would pay. You will be entitled to a 25% single person discount when he moves out.

beerinmind

Sorry I didn't check for replies here.

So we both were renting a 2 bedroom. It's a rolling contract with a one month notice period. The guy decided to move out, I decided I'd stay. I've found another guy to move in once that guy moved out. All the bills we were splitting in half. All the bills were paid monthly, except for the council tax, as it took council three months to send the new bill and set up direct debit. So the guy has moved out and paid his half of all the bills, except for the council tax. Hope this makes it clear.

Comms69

beerinmind wrote: »

Sorry I didn't check for replies here.

So we both were renting a 2 bedroom. It's a rolling contract with a one month notice period. The guy decided to move out, I decided I'd stay. I've found another guy to move in once that guy moved out. All the bills we were splitting in half. All the bills were paid monthly, except for the council tax, as it took council three months to send the new bill and set up direct debit. So the guy has moved out and paid his half of all the bills, except for the council tax. Hope this makes it clear.

Just on a side note (the above advice doesn't change given what you wrote) will this new person be a joint tenant, separate tenant or a lodger?