Council Tax / HMO Banding

owls1867

Hi all, 

I have a bit of sense of dread hanging over me, so thought I would reach out to see anyone can help me. Apologises for the very long post. 

I work in the lettings industry and I actually worked for an agency who owned a HMO that I lived in for a short period of time because of a relationship breakup. This period was from March 2023 to around November of the same year. 

For some reason, the VOA / Council believe that this HMO should be paying council tax on individual self contained flats - where in fact this is a council licensed 6 Bedroom HMO since 2020 and not specifically a Section 257 one. Looking at the banding history, the individual banding was deleted, possibly back in December 2023 when the law was clarified a bit more about liability as a single dwelling. So basically this is about supposedly retrospective council tax.

A random bill for CT landed at this address in my name saying I owe some money for a room I rented in the house. I only know this because I obviously worked for the agency and kept in touch with the owner - if I didn't, I would be completely oblivious and not stressing myself over it. 

I know for a fact that the council in question do not have any forwarding details, no mobile numbers / email addresses for me and I have moved away from that area where this HMO is in. My boss has not provided anything to them because he is on my side of the argument. The property has had no correspondence since the original bill over 1 month ago since my previous boss messaged them to say they didn't know where I had gone. 

For clarity, I have never not paid a bill or a debt. I am not that type of person and I don't want people to get the wrong impression of me that I am simply running away from it and using my leverage as being the agent / tenant- because that is not true. I simply believe that I don't owe them anything and that is why I am not contacting them and letting them try and find me (if they can). Had my previous boss not said anything to me, then I wouldn't be writing this post as I would be completely in the dark. The house gets checked every week for any post as part of the weekly fire checks so I would know if anything else had been sent in the meantime. 

What I want to understand is how likely will this debt be written off, considering they have virtually no information to go on (no new address, no contact details etc). They don't even have my DOB either so I am guessing they can't get my credit history and I have absolutely no plans on returning to the same area anytime. I am also not registered on the electoral role. 

I am also quite a private person, so I have no details on my where abouts on social media. If they were continuing to chase me, I would have expected a few more letters / reminders since the initial bill to the house in the meantime? Is this the council just sending out a few letters and seeing what comes back? If the council have been told by the actual letting agent of not knowing my whereabouts, is that sufficient for them to cancel any recovery due to time / hassle / cost involved etc?

My second question is that if they do manage to find me, what are peoples opinions about challenging the decision? For me, I believe that with it being a licensed HMO (and I have a copy of the license to prove that) would be a reasonable argument to request an appeal? I know there are a few different types of legislation you can appeal under, including raising a tribunal to the VOA who will ultimately define it. I know you can also appeal under section 13(A)(1)(c) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 which is what I would do to start with. 

Thanks for reading this - like I say, I dont want people to suddenly judge me for "playing the game" but I believe in this instance I have every right to make the councils job as difficult as possible because I believe its completely unjustified. 

lincroft1710

I'll clear up one thing for you very quickly, you cannot appeal the band of this room as 1) you are no longer the occupier and 2) it appears there is no longer an entry for it in the Valuation List.


Check the effective date for the new entry of the whole house, if it a date previous to you leaving the room, you have grounds for disputing the bill 

owls1867

lincroft1710 said:

I'll clear up one thing for you very quickly, you cannot appeal the band of this room as 1) you are no longer the occupier and 2) it appears there is no longer an entry for it in the Valuation List.


Check the effective date for the new entry of the whole house, if it a date previous to you leaving the room, you have grounds for disputing the bill 

Thank you for your response. Sorry, I probably wasn't clear in my waffle.  

I am not appealing the actual banding of the rooms (whether its a A,B,C etc) - I am appealing the fact that there should not be a banding on the individual rooms in the first place as they are not bedsits / self contained flats and it has been like this from the conversation back in 2020 (when the HMO license took affect). 

The VOA has got the wrong information and therefore given the council justification to make the tenants liable which I don't believe is correct (or even fair). 

lincroft1710

It was obvious that you wished to appeal against the room being separately assessed for CT. Same principle applies, you cannot appeal an entry in the VL if you are not the current occupier