As a renter in an Household of Multiple Occupancies - am I liable for council tax?

avocia

Hi there, I moved into a house in Manchester in August 2022 in a 12-month tenancy agreement for a single room within a multiple occupancy household (HMO) of 6. At the time I moved in, I was a student completing a Masters degree alongside my pre-registration in Optometry. I realised a couple months in this was gonna be far too much work, and so I dropped out of the masters in January 2023.

Thought nothing of it at the time, carried on working/living as normal. Of course, April comes around - new tax year, and our landlord sends everyone in the household an email asking us to reconfirm our student status as the council were asking and they couldn't verify everyone. They later followed up to say that they specifically could not verify me. It was then I realised, I was no longer classed as a student, and my status letter from the university confirms I left the course in January. Which means this property no longer has just students in it and council tax is payable.

I had a look online, and all advice seems to state that in an HMO, the landlord is responsible for all council tax, and as such I would not be liable to pay that to them. Of course, when they rented the room to me they were renting to only students, and so will be surprised one of their tenants is no longer one. Maybe I should have informed them, but this is my first time living away from home and honestly before today I knew zilch about council tax, so I didn't know this would be important information to them. As far as I was concerned I was locked in the contract regardless so it was no odds. 

Chances are they won't be happy about this and will kick me out at the earliest possible opportunity (which I believe is 28 days notice?) That's fine with me, I kinda hate the place anyway and have other places I can go. But I am concerned they will try and argue I am liable. There's one clause of my contract which mentions council tax, although the wording is ambiguous. Specifically this paragraph; 

Any unpaid accounts or charges for electricity, gas, phone, water, communication services and council-tax incurred at the Property that you are responsible for paying under this Agreement where we have incurred a loss as a result of your failure to pay.

(I've attached the full clause for more detail)

I highlighted the words 'that you are responsible for paying' as this seems to be my saving grace potentially. Given that legally the landlord is responsible for council tax in an HMO, does this mean that this part of the contract does not enforce responsibility for those council tax payments on me? I'm nervous they will try to take this from my deposit or otherwise charge me, but it doesn't seem like they're allowed to do this. 

I don't even know that they will be bothered or try to kick me out even, it's speculation based on other horror stories I've heard, but I'd like some advice before I send them my student status letter so that if I do end up in a battle with them I can at least go into it armed. Thanks in advance.

avocia

Full tenancy clause.

HampshireH

That clause relates to return of your deposit?

There should be another clause about bills during the tenancy. Contribution to bills is seperate to rent even if managed in one payment.

My view whilst the owner may be liable to pay council tax they have set up a student house whichbis meant to be exempt. On this basis they won't haven't included it in your monthly amount due.

You have deviated from that by failing to remain a student and therefore are now not exempt.

Does your contract have anything in it about what happens if you fail to remain a student?

Hopefully for the landlord it does as why should the landlord pay full council tax when he let to a group exempt from paying only to find out now one hasn't remained so.

So yes landlord is responsible but yes depending on your tenancy they can claim the cost back

anselld

Firstly, liability to the Council is determined by the type of tenancy agreement.  The Council Tax definition of HMO differs from the Housing Act definition so that if you are in a "Joint and Several" tenancy with the other residents it is not an HMO for CT purposes.  If you have a joint tenancy then you are liable to the Council for CT.
If you have an individual room tenancy then the Landlord is liable to the Council.
So the first thing to check is how many tenants signed the agreement?

[Deleted User]

NRLA on their website explain to landlords the pros and cons of room only AST vs Joint & Several AST. Not sure i would go room only with students in an HMO. 

housebuyer143

If the bills are included in your rent and the tenancy agreement states council tax then he is liable to pay it.
If it's not included you will have to pay it all but with a single person discount. It's very harsh. I met a similar problem when I finished uni a year before my housemates, however my landlord took me off the tenancy agreement but allowed my friend to rent two rooms and I paid under her name. Fraud, no doubt but the landlord didn't want to pay it and neither did I. At the time it was as much as 1/3 of my rent again 

ThisIsWeird

How much notice do you have to give them before you move out? And I presume, being a 'room only' type of rental, you are not responsible for finding a replacement student if you do? IE, you can leave at any point, giving the required amount of notice?

I suspect (but don't know) that the situation is as described by previous posters; the LL specifically had students to avoid the requirement for CT, which he/she would have been personally liable for as it's a 'room only/individual' tenancy. 

Now you are not a student, the LL will be liable for CT and will clearly be looking for you to pay it, and I think that's fair enough - it should have been understood by you from the off. However, worst case scenario is surely that 'you' would only be liable for the CT for as long as you are there, so hopefully just one month of CT, perhaps two if including the notice period? In which case you need to weigh up the cost of this CT amount (unpleasant, but not punitive) with what the LL could try and claim (successfully, I imagine) from your deposit amount - essentially the same amount, I guess? Once you leave, the LL can change the CT requirement back to 'student/individual' as before, and stop paying the CT charge again.

Or, the LL may possibly be prepared to allow you to leave right away, so could continue to (rightly) claim that all occupants are still students. This would presumably save them a lot of hassle and paperwork, but clearly this option shouldn't then end up costing you anything, and you should have your full deposit returned to you.

So, most likely - as far as I understand this - you are (rightly) liable. And the best approach would be to 'fess up to the LL so you both agree how to sort it. AfaIk, worst case is that this should not cost you more than 1 or 2 months of CT - ie for whatever time you remain.

This is just my understanding and interpretation of the situation, and in no way am I an authority or expert on this. 

HampshireH

ThisIsWeird said:

How much notice do you have to give them before you move out? And I presume, being a 'room only' type of rental, you are not responsible for finding a replacement student if you do? IE, you can leave at any point, giving the required amount of notice?

I suspect (but don't know) that the situation is as described by previous posters; the LL specifically had students to avoid the requirement for CT, which he/she would have been personally liable for as it's a 'room only/individual' tenancy. 

Now you are not a student, the LL will be liable for CT and will clearly be looking for you to pay it, and I think that's fair enough - it should have been understood by you from the off. However, worst case scenario is surely that 'you' would only be liable for the CT for as long as you are there, so hopefully just one month of CT, perhaps two if including the notice period? In which case you need to weigh up the cost of this CT amount (unpleasant, but not punitive) with what the LL could try and claim (successfully, I imagine) from your deposit amount - essentially the same amount, I guess? Once you leave, the LL can change the CT requirement back to 'student/individual' as before, and stop paying the CT charge again.

Or, the LL may possibly be prepared to allow you to leave right away, so could continue to (rightly) claim that all occupants are still students. This would presumably save them a lot of hassle and paperwork, but clearly this option shouldn't then end up costing you anything, and you should have your full deposit returned to you.

So, most likely - as far as I understand this - you are (rightly) liable. And the best approach would be to 'fess up to the LL so you both agree how to sort it. AfaIk, worst case is that this should not cost you more than 1 or 2 months of CT - ie for whatever time you remain.

This is just my understanding and interpretation of the situation, and in no way am I an authority or expert on this. 

Council tax liability will likely be back dated to when the student status was no more now they have this information.

ThisIsWeird

HampshireH said:

ThisIsWeird said:

How much notice do you have to give them before you move out? And I presume, being a 'room only' type of rental, you are not responsible for finding a replacement student if you do? IE, you can leave at any point, giving the required amount of notice?

I suspect (but don't know) that the situation is as described by previous posters; the LL specifically had students to avoid the requirement for CT, which he/she would have been personally liable for as it's a 'room only/individual' tenancy. 

Now you are not a student, the LL will be liable for CT and will clearly be looking for you to pay it, and I think that's fair enough - it should have been understood by you from the off. However, worst case scenario is surely that 'you' would only be liable for the CT for as long as you are there, so hopefully just one month of CT, perhaps two if including the notice period? In which case you need to weigh up the cost of this CT amount (unpleasant, but not punitive) with what the LL could try and claim (successfully, I imagine) from your deposit amount - essentially the same amount, I guess? Once you leave, the LL can change the CT requirement back to 'student/individual' as before, and stop paying the CT charge again.

Or, the LL may possibly be prepared to allow you to leave right away, so could continue to (rightly) claim that all occupants are still students. This would presumably save them a lot of hassle and paperwork, but clearly this option shouldn't then end up costing you anything, and you should have your full deposit returned to you.

So, most likely - as far as I understand this - you are (rightly) liable. And the best approach would be to 'fess up to the LL so you both agree how to sort it. AfaIk, worst case is that this should not cost you more than 1 or 2 months of CT - ie for whatever time you remain.

This is just my understanding and interpretation of the situation, and in no way am I an authority or expert on this. 

Council tax liability will likely be back dated to when the student status was no more now they have this information.

Thanks. Good point - the CT enquiry process seems well under way, and will likely have been chased for a few weeks now, so the potential 'leaving right away with LL's agreement' option looks gone.

pinkshoes

The LL will have to pay the CT from when you dropped out then they will claim this back from you. Especially if it was made clear it was a student HMO.

It will be 75% of the CT for single person discount but this will be quite steep as it's a large house.  

I would look at negotiating leaving early from your 12 month AST.

I had the opposite. I rented a 3 bed house with 2 other girls working for a local companies. They then stated they were actually students in France and working abroad for a year was part of their studies. I ended up having to pay the CT on my own! I was not impressed with them! I eventually found another student to take my place in the house.
 

Jonboy_1984

Does your room have an ensuite or any cooking facilities within it, as that might change the CT position from whole house to each room being band A.


see this recent thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6384735/council-tax-for-a-rented-room-in-an-hmo-house-in-multiple-occupation/p1