My previous tenant from 2 years ago didn't pay council tax and left country

Farrella

Hi, the tenant before my current tenant didn't pay council tax and I didn't realise until recently as Hackney Council has now redirected the council tax arrears to me. In hindsight I should have registered her on the council website but I was a newbie at being a landlord.

Am I stuck with the arrears? I have no idea where she is, except that she has moved to Asia and that was over a year ago. I have a tenancy agreement with her, but no other proof as I paid all the bills for her as she didn't have a UK bank account so it was easier that way.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Caz3121

Farrella wrote: »

I paid all the bills for her as she didn't have a UK bank account so it was easier that way.

what does the tenancy agreement state about bills? what bills did you pay? did you return the full deposit?

CIS

Farrella wrote: »

Hi, the tenant before my current tenant didn't pay council tax and I didn't realise until recently as Hackney Council has now redirected the council tax arrears to me. In hindsight I should have registered her on the council website but I was a newbie at being a landlord.

Am I stuck with the arrears? I have no idea where she is, except that she has moved to Asia and that was over a year ago. I have a tenancy agreement with her, but no other proof as I paid all the bills for her as she didn't have a UK bank account so it was easier that way.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Doesn't matter what the tenancy agreement says over council tax as far as the council are concerned. What matters is how legislation treats the situation (The council cannot choose to alter who is liable).

If it was a standard AST on the whole property then the tenant is liable and not the landlord - gets a bit more complicated if the property was not let as a whole though or the tenant vacated early.

It is often possible to piece together other items to support the tenancy agreement. Although in theory a tenancy should be sufficient, I find sometimes you have to be creative and think a bit more over the evidential side.

I see cases far too often where similar has happened. #1 rule is to always tell the council, never rely on anyone else.

Farrella

I have is a standard tenancy agreement for the entire one bed flat. It says tenant is responsible for bills, though I don't think it matters in this case for council tax as she is liable anyway.

Not sure if it matters at all, but the tenant paid by cash as she did not have a UK bank account.

Would the council be willing to write off this council tax bill just by receiving the tenancy agreement? The problem is she is no longer in the UK so I don't know what we can do to find her, and even if we find her I'm sure she won't be paying! There was however about 40 days between her and the next tenant, so I guess I'm liable for that period...

CIS

Farrella wrote: »

I have is a standard tenancy agreement for the entire one bed flat. It says tenant is responsible for bills, though I don't think it matters in this case for council tax as she is liable anyway.

Not sure if it matters at all, but the tenant paid by cash as she did not have a UK bank account.

Would the council be willing to write off this council tax bill just by receiving the tenancy agreement? The problem is she is no longer in the UK so I don't know what we can do to find her, and even if we find her I'm sure she won't be paying! There was however about 40 days between her and the next tenant, so I guess I'm liable for that period...

Hard to say - I have some clients where the council take agreement and are happy, others where it's got to be argued. In real terms it depends on the council as to how much they argue. Legislation is clear but, evidentially, some councils are more cautious with retrospective paperwork.

Just because they can't find a liable party does not make the landlord liable - this is another common point of dispute.

Farrella

So I guess what you are saying is send the council the tenancy agreement and see what they say?

If they do ask for more info, what do they ask? The only thing I have now is random catalogues and subscriptions she had ordered that still get sent to the address because she never cancelled them.

Thanks again!

mrschaucer

Farrella wrote: »

So I guess what you are saying is send the council the tenancy agreement and see what they say?

Send a COPY with a covering letter ...

Socajam

I would not mention to the council that you paid the tenant's bills for her because she did not have a bank account.
They may use this as making you liable for the council tax - crazy - but when it comes to dealing with the Inland Revenue and Local Councils I am tend to tread very carefully.

CIS

Farrella wrote: »

So I guess what you are saying is send the council the tenancy agreement and see what they say?

If they do ask for more info, what do they ask? The only thing I have now is random catalogues and subscriptions she had ordered that still get sent to the address because she never cancelled them.

Thanks again!

A copy along with a covering letter, any extra info you can add, and stating the legislation you are relying on would be my suggestion at this stage. These cases can very easily get out of hand and end up with liability orders being issued before it can be sorted if it's not done correctly.

Farrella

Maybe it would be better to email copy of tenancy agreement to Hackney Council? They are very big on doing things online nowadays.

CIS

Farrella wrote: »

Maybe it would be better to email copy of tenancy agreement to Hackney Council? They are very big on doing things online nowadays.

Surprisingly many councils no longer readily deal with stuff on-line so just check you can send things to them - even where you can contact them some do not allow you to send attachments.