Council tax as a lodger or subtenant

JasonEnn

Hey guys,

Do you need to worry about council tax if you are a subtenant or lodger? So this means moving in with the tenent who is paying rent. (Not the actual landlord)

- Do you need to tell the council yourself? What happens if you don't?

- Can you live in a property without letting the council know?

- Will the council tax increase? (There's already two working adults there already so they don't get the 25% discount)

Cheers.. tax is too confusing...

J

sevenhills

If only one person lives in a property they will be the liable person. If more than one person lives there, a system called the hierarchy of liability is used to work out who is the liable person. The person at the top, or nearest to the top, of the hierarchy is the liable person. Two people at the same point of the hierarchy will both be liable.


I dont think you need to do anything.

G_M

if there was only one person in the property before you moved in, they may have been claiming 'single person discount' (25% discount). The council need to be informed that there are now two people and the discount will be removed.


The original person (your landlord?) is probably still liable for the CT (though see sevenhillspost above). Whether that person requires you to pay towards the council tax (eg half?)depends on your agreement. Does the rent include or exclude council tax?

00ec25

JasonEnn wrote: »

Hey guys,

Do you need to worry about council tax if you are a subtenant or lodger? So this means moving in with the tenent who is paying rent. (Not the actual landlord)

- Do you need to tell the council yourself? What happens if you don't?

- Can you live in a property without letting the council know?

- Will the council tax increase? (There's already two working adults there already so they don't get the 25% discount)

it rather depends on your actual status in the building.

Lodger and sub tenants are not one and the same thing, they are very different

Please be very clear and explain to whom you will pay your rent...will it be to the "actual LL" ... or will it be to the "tenant"

if you are paying the LL that must mean your occupation of the building is on a separate tenancy agreement to that which cover the other tenant. In that case the property is a Council Tax HMO (which has nothing whatsoever to do with a Housing HMO and licensing etc) and the only person legally liable to pay the CT is the actual LL

if you are paying rent to your tenant and your occupation of the building is as a lodger of that tenant, then you have zero legal liability for CT because it is not a council tax HMO. Therefore the normal hierarchy does apply. In which case the tenant ranks above you in the list and is responsible for paying CT. It won't make one jot of difference you being there, since there are already 2 of them so max CT is being paid