Council Tax Liability vs HMO dispute

RobotMunch

Hi, I am hoping someone can offer me some advice on a Council Tax billing dispute I have?

I used to live at a property around the time covid started and it was a house with multiple other tennants. Once I left the property I received two bills for two seperate periods. One bill was for a period where there were four people in the house (myself included), and a second smaller bill for a period when I was the sole occuppier/tennant.

The bill for the period where there were four of us living there has all of our independant names stated on there but it seems like the local Council are only persuing me for the outstanding balance. To me it seems like I'm being pursued as I was good enough to give them a forwarding address.

To complicate matters, the house should be classed as a HMO (house of multiple occupancy) which means the Council tax should be paid by the Landlord. I cannot find my original tenancy agreement to see if it mentioned paying Council Tax. The Council do not seem to be interested in pursuing the Landlord to request a copy of the tenancy agreement so it seems like they are only persuing me.

I've disputed the actions of the Council with them directly and haven't got anywhere. Can anyone give me any advice? I don't think its ethical that the Council can only persue me (out of three others) for the debt because I gave them my forwarding address in good faith. Also, its a mute point due to the HMO dispute and is the owness on me to provide a copy of a tenancy agreement? It seems the landlord may be ignoring the Councils requests if they're doing any due diligence work at all.

I feel like I've been made a soft target, and I don't want this to escalate to debt collection and possible credit rating impacts.

Thanks in advance

lincroft1710

When there is more than one person named on a CT bill, then each person named is jointly and severally liable for the CT. So a council can lawfully pursue any single person named for the whole amount. Usually the people named would be married or living together as a married couple, or joint owners, or joint tenants.


In your case the council believe that there was only a single tenancy between you and your co-occupiers. The onus would be on you to prove otherwise. Do not rely on your tenancy agreement stating that CT was included as this would only be applicable for a CT HMO and landlords frequently state "CT included in rent" on a tenancy agreements where in law the tenant would be responsible. Without a copy of your tenancy there is nothing to prove the council's actions are incorrect and the fact that you became the sole occupier complicates the matter. . 

RobotMunch

lincroft1710 said:

When there is more than one person named on a CT bill, then each person named is jointly and severally liable for the CT. So a council can lawfully pursue any single person named for the whole amount. Usually the people named would be married or living together as a married couple, or joint owners, or joint tenants.


In your case the council believe that there was only a single tenancy between you and your co-occupiers. The onus would be on you to prove otherwise. Do not rely on your tenancy agreement stating that CT was included as this would only be applicable for a CT HMO and landlords frequently state "CT included in rent" on a tenancy agreements where in law the tenant would be responsible. Without a copy of your tenancy there is nothing to prove the council's actions are incorrect and the fact that you became the sole occupier complicates the matter. . 

Thanks for your response

When I was disputing with the Council over only pursuing me, I requested a copy of their guidelines that show the process they follow/research they undertake. I also reqested evidence they've attempted to locate the other tenants, they couldn't/wouldn't provide it. They've stated to me previosly that they can just target me, but it just seems morally/ethically wrong that they've done nothing to locate the other tennants and have just targeted me as I gave them my forwarding address. Lesson learnt i think.

We all had seperate agreements as we were paying different amounts (different sized rooms etc.). I think I'm going to have to track down a copy of the TA somehow. It just feels like the Council take the easy/quickest option and not the correct course of action. I've moved address again now so the irony will be that they will spend resources on tracing just me, when they could be tracing the Landlord/other tennants.

lincroft1710

The law is on the council's side. The actions do not have to be fair only lawful. You will definitely have to find a copy of your TA.


The following link gives advice on disputing your CT bill

https://www.gov.uk/council-tax-appeals

CIS

RobotMunch said:

lincroft1710 said:

When there is more than one person named on a CT bill, then each person named is jointly and severally liable for the CT. So a council can lawfully pursue any single person named for the whole amount. Usually the people named would be married or living together as a married couple, or joint owners, or joint tenants.


In your case the council believe that there was only a single tenancy between you and your co-occupiers. The onus would be on you to prove otherwise. Do not rely on your tenancy agreement stating that CT was included as this would only be applicable for a CT HMO and landlords frequently state "CT included in rent" on a tenancy agreements where in law the tenant would be responsible. Without a copy of your tenancy there is nothing to prove the council's actions are incorrect and the fact that you became the sole occupier complicates the matter. . 

Thanks for your response

When I was disputing with the Council over only pursuing me, I requested a copy of their guidelines that show the process they follow/research they undertake. I also reqested evidence they've attempted to locate the other tenants, they couldn't/wouldn't provide it. They've stated to me previosly that they can just target me, but it just seems morally/ethically wrong that they've done nothing to locate the other tennants and have just targeted me as I gave them my forwarding address. Lesson learnt i think.

We all had seperate agreements as we were paying different amounts (different sized rooms etc.). I think I'm going to have to track down a copy of the TA somehow. It just feels like the Council take the easy/quickest option and not the correct course of action. I've moved address again now so the irony will be that they will spend resources on tracing just me, when they could be tracing the Landlord/other tennants.

There's no specific requirement for the council to chase any other party for the council tax charge where they've made a liability determination. Once the council come to actual enforcement action then only party can be enforced against at any one time - that's a matter of legislation.

Council Tax has its own HMO definition.

Separate tenancy agreements would be in your favour if it can be proven, as it would be a Council Tax HMO. I think, having argued many council tax disputes and VTE cases, that you seem to have a good case on the face of it.

To dispute and appeal the decision, there is a specific process that needs to be undertaken. Failure to do so can result in the case being chucked out by VTE.