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Landlord didn't pay Council tax.

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Comments

  • Hannimal
    Hannimal Posts: 965 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    macman said:
    You should never had signed a TA with such a clause. 
    How helpful and kind. I'm sure the OP didn't realise this until you said it. Thanks.



  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 2 September 2020 at 3:00PM
    Just to tie down some points which have been raised earlier regarding liability - the liability is defined by legislation,. not any agreement with the landlord.
    You always need to look back at the very root of the case first and work forward - has the flat been separately banded for council tax ?
    If the answer to the above is yes then, except in a few unusual conditions, the resident tenant is liable for the council tax charge - a resident is a person who has their 'sole or main residence' in the property - and the council will chase them.
    Your situation is far from unusual - I've seen hundreds of the cases like it over the years, it's very common to find the landlord has not declared the property correctly and it's spiralled from that.
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Hannimal said:
    macman said:
    You should never had signed a TA with such a clause. 
    How helpful and kind. I'm sure the OP didn't realise this until you said it. Thanks.



    You're very welcome...
    Too late to benefit the OP, but it might help others falling into the same trap in the future.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • Just to add on the conflicting clauses - it's also an established principle that when a consumer contract is internally contradictory, the interpretation of the agreement usually runs in favour of the consumer as the party that did not draft the contract. So a court would likely decide in your favour on any claim for this reason as well as those stated previously.
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