Council Tax HMO

Daisy_1094

Hi everyone, wondering if someone has been in this situation before and could offer me advice please?

Frustratingly, after work, I had a call from a council chasing up “unpaid council tax” from a HMO (house of multiple occupation) property I lived in as a tenant, 14 MONTHS AGO. 

I found the tenancy agreement - it said council tax will be taken out of the rent for utility bills! The person dealing with my call then put me on hold for 40 minutes so I could speak to someone else…only for the line to cut off at 5pm 🤬 

The property in question was managed by an estate lettings agency. In the event that the council are difficult to contact, or refuse to listen, what do I need to do next?

Thank you.

molerat

Did you have an individual tenancy agreement or was it a joint tenancy ?

Daisy_1094

molerat said:

Did you have an individual tenancy agreement or was it a joint tenancy ?

Hi - thanks for your reply. It was an individual agreement - shared the property with 5 other people I didn’t know, managed by a lettings company for a landlord. The agreement states the utilities covered, including council tax.

I always paid my rent on time too.

lincroft1710

You had a telephone call from the council but no paperwork?

A poster called CIS is the expert in these matters and hopefully he will give you some help with this. It does seem from what you have posted that the council are not actin correctly.

Daisy_1094

lincroft1710 said:

You had a telephone call from the council but no paperwork?

A poster called CIS is the expert in these matters and hopefully he will give you some help with this. It does seem from what you have posted that the council are not actin correctly.

Yeah, that’s correct. I found it very odd as it was only one phone call I received and no letter - this is 14 months after I left the house share. 

Thanks - hopefully he will see this

Fergie76

Usually, a LL will remain liable for CT of a HMO, however, there are some exceptions.

CIS

Daisy_1094 said:

Hi everyone, wondering if someone has been in this situation before and could offer me advice please?

Frustratingly, after work, I had a call from a council chasing up “unpaid council tax” from a HMO (house of multiple occupation) property I lived in as a tenant, 14 MONTHS AGO. 

I found the tenancy agreement - it said council tax will be taken out of the rent for utility bills! The person dealing with my call then put me on hold for 40 minutes so I could speak to someone else…only for the line to cut off at 5pm 🤬 

The property in question was managed by an estate lettings agency. In the event that the council are difficult to contact, or refuse to listen, what do I need to do next?

Thank you.

On a council tax HMO the landlord remains liable for the council tax charge - the landlord cannot alter this fact.

If the property falls to be a council tax HMO - usually if you just rented a room it would be - then the council are incorrectly billing you.

The caveat to this would be if the Valuation Office have split the assessment, in which case it may not be a council tax HMO. It's the sort of situation that needs a deeper delve, as it can get quite technical.

Daisy_1094

@CIS

Hi there, I’ve just added an update into the forum. Thanks for your reply. There’s an update to this situation and it does include the Valuation Office 😫 please could read and advise - I’d be very grateful!