Council Tax - moving from abroad

Antbell85

I am only doing it in advance to make sure I don't lose the property - staying in a hotel is neither convenient or cheap. 

Slithery

Paying council tax has no relevance as to whether or not you get the property. Signing up before you even know if you'll be moving or not is a terrible idea. If it falls through then you'll have all the trouble of convincing the council that you aren't moving in.

Wait until you're in the property - then set up the council tax.

KatrinaWaves

lincroft1710 said:

KatrinaWaves said:

You are responsible from the date of your tenancy, not the date you move in. Anything before you tenancy start date is up to the landlord. 

Slightly misleading, the occupier or if unoccupied the person entitled to occupy is responsible for paying the CT. So if OP moves in prior to commencement of their tenancy, they are responsible for paying CT

Agreed. However there are not many situations where you’d move in for free early! But yes agreed, occupation and/or tenancy date, whichever is earliest! 

OP seemed to imply he had the tenancy, as he was registering with the council (otherwise there would be no reason to...), landlord has his passport, but wasn’t moving for another week, that’s all. 

KatrinaWaves

Antbell85 said:

greatcrested said:

You should not complete the registration till you actually move in ot the tenancy starts. If anything happens between now and then to prevent the tenancy going ahead (read a few threads on this forum!) you'll have a nightmare disentangling the council tax. Do it only once you become liable for the CT, not before.

And this is entirely your responsibility, not the landlord's.

Same with utilities (assuming you are responsible). Read the meters on the day you move in and call the gas/electric company, set up an account, and give them the meter readings. No point doing any of this in advance.

I thought the LandLord has responsibility for informing the council as to who is responsible for the tax as he is the owner. If that is not the case why do they ask for the landlord / agents details?

The landlord isn’t responsible, but most councils will take info from
landlords or have a separate form for landlords and tenants. 

Asking for those details is purely to have more info on who to bill after the tenancy ends. We’ve had situations at work where we have billed people who owned the property YEARS ago as it’s always been tenanted and no one told us the property had been sold or who the new landlords were, so as far as we knew it was still owned by the old owner.

up to date records are better! 

KatrinaWaves

macman said:

Unless you are moving into an HMO, then you are responsible for paying the CT, it's nothing to with the LL (nor should he be registering you for it). Same with all the other utility bills: water, gas, electricity.
'within the area' only applies if you are already registered for CT with the same LA, (so they can cross-reference the accounts), which obviously you are not.

There’s nothing wrong with a landlord giving accurate info to a council about their new tenant. Some tenants never let the council know so the landlord would still be getting bills, so it is fine for landlords to update CT 

AdrianC

Antbell85 said:

macman said:

Unless you are moving into an HMO, then you are responsible for paying the CT, it's nothing to with the LL (nor should he be registering you for it). Same with all the other utility bills: water, gas, electricity.
'within the area' only applies if you are already registered for CT with the same LA, (so they can cross-reference the accounts), which obviously you are not.

That is correct. So its ok if I put my USA address down - it where I was staying for the majority of the time I was there - however I do not have any bills in my name. 

The "previous address" is only really of relevance to your new council if they're transferring your account from your last address.

Apart from that, doesn't matter if you were in prison, the Ritz, the next local authority, or Outer Mongolia.

Antbell85

The landlord isn’t responsible, but most councils will take info from
landlords or have a separate form for landlords and tenants. 

Asking for those details is purely to have more info on who to bill after the tenancy ends. We’ve had situations at work where we have billed people who owned the property YEARS ago as it’s always been tenanted and no one told us the property had been sold or who the new landlords were, so as far as we knew it was still owned by the old owner.

up to date records are better! 

So when a new tenant moves in - is it all done automatically? I will get a new bill at my new address. 
So I should wait till after I have moved in. It's just that I am a bit anxious. 

Slithery

No, it's not done automatically. You contact the council on the day you move in and set it up with them then.

macman

KatrinaWaves said:

macman said:

Unless you are moving into an HMO, then you are responsible for paying the CT, it's nothing to with the LL (nor should he be registering you for it). Same with all the other utility bills: water, gas, electricity.
'within the area' only applies if you are already registered for CT with the same LA, (so they can cross-reference the accounts), which obviously you are not.

There’s nothing wrong with a landlord giving accurate info to a council about their new tenant. Some tenants never let the council know so the landlord would still be getting bills, so it is fine for landlords to update CT 

Of course they can 'give information'. If the tenancy has had a void period then they can deregister their own responsibility once the new tenancy has started. But they certainly shouldn't be registering someone else as if they were that person.

macman

Antbell85 said:

The landlord isn’t responsible, but most councils will take info from
landlords or have a separate form for landlords and tenants. 

Asking for those details is purely to have more info on who to bill after the tenancy ends. We’ve had situations at work where we have billed people who owned the property YEARS ago as it’s always been tenanted and no one told us the property had been sold or who the new landlords were, so as far as we knew it was still owned by the old owner.

up to date records are better! 

So when a new tenant moves in - is it all done automatically? I will get a new bill at my new address. 
So I should wait till after I have moved in. It's just that I am a bit anxious. 

You are really over-complicatng this. Once your tenancy starts and you are in occupation, then register for CT and all the utilities. No need to do anything before then.
It's not automatic, because the LA are not psychic-they have no idea when a tenancy starts or ends.