We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
What's the best thing to do in this case?(bill payments, tenancy agreement)
Comments
-
That still doesn't mean that you are not liable for the council tax until the end of tenancy at your previous address.
I understand this. So you suggest I pay until the 20th of June? Ring up the city council and tell them that I want to pay ten more days because that's when my tenancy ended?0 -
billquestion wrote: »This is the problem...my ex landlord does not even pick up the phone...how can I expect him to respond to my written letter about this issue?
This is why you are given ( on the tenancy agreement) an "address for serving notices". Once you serve notice to this address in writing it is irrelevant if the LL responds or not because it has been legally served. The usual advice is to send two letter first class from separate post offices and retain proof of posting. Allow two days for delivery. Job done, landlord may be in Timbuktu but it will still stand in a court of law.0 -
You're very lucky your ex-LL hasn't still been charging you rent if he's had no other tenants! You could write to the council re: Council Tax and say that the property was unoccupied from 10th June (different councils have different rules but I know mine exempt you from paying council tax if the property is unoccupied). Did you take meter readings when you left? If not then you have no proof of how much you owe, but you need to get in touch with the company/ies anyway. The last thing you want it them coming after you and you ending up with a poor credit profile in the future, which could affect you getting a loan or mortgage. Did you not pay any utility bills at all when you moved in? Have you made sure that you have now put your names on the bills in your current place? Why has it taken 6 months to get it sorted? Any correspondence to your ex-LL MUST be in writing now for proof. A text message won't wash if you end up in court for something.First Time Buyer: Mortgage Offered, Searches complete, Exchanged 21/12/2012, Completion 04/01/2013! :beer:0
-
billquestion wrote: »This is the problem...my ex landlord does not even pick up the phone...how can I expect him to respond to my written letter about this issue?
If anything, in case I write him he'll just have proof that I missed to inform him and he'll realize that he can make me responsible to pay for several months of bills for times when I did not even live in the flat.
Now no one has proof if I noticed him on my leave or not in writing.
In theory he has the power at this moment to make me responsible to pay all bills forever basically...Am I right? This is a joke.
On the phone he told me that I don't owe him anything so basically in theory he's fine that I moved out and everything but now if he's a very cruel person then he can hurt me quite badly with this situation if he wants.
It's a good learning lesson for me to be more careful in the future.
By the way even if I had written him a letter before informing him about my moving out, he in theory could just tear that letter apart and say that I hadn't told him that I left so he could bill me forever basically.
I wish I had familiarized myself with the laws surrounding tenancy before I moved in but I was negligent and naive.
Can you please read the thread not just the posts that say what you want to hear? You cannot prove phone calls or text messages and they do not count as proper notice. You can get proof of posting and/ or proof of delivery of a letter from the Post Office, as tenant who chose to vacate YOU are responsible for proving notice was properly served, the landlord is not responsible for proving it was not. It's up to the landlord whether or not he responds, that is not your problem.
There is nothing cruel about your landlord expecting you to meet your legal obligations, it is YOU who is trying to wriggle out of apying what you owe and YOU who is expecting someone else to pay your debts. :mad:billquestion wrote: »I have a document from the city council stating that I paid the council tax and I moved to xyz new address on the 10th of June so I have some proof in my hands if anything happens.
I understand this. So you suggest I pay until the 20th of June? Ring up the city council and tell them that I want to pay ten more days because that's when my tenancy ended?
Again 20 June is not when your tenancy ended, you have no proof of that because you failed to serve your landlord proper notice. You can be liable for council tax for two properties if you are the legal occupant of two properties.
You have proof you gave the council the wrong date for the end of your tenancy, nothing more.Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
julieb1987 wrote: »You're very lucky your ex-LL hasn't still been charging you rent if he's had no other tenants! You could write to the council re: Council Tax and say that the property was unoccupied from 10th June (different councils have different rules but I know mine exempt you from paying council tax if the property is unoccupied). Did you take meter readings when you left? If not then you have no proof of how much you owe, but you need to get in touch with the company/ies anyway. The last thing you want it them coming after you and you ending up with a poor credit profile in the future, which could affect you getting a loan or mortgage. Did you not pay any utility bills at all when you moved in? Have you made sure that you have now put your names on the bills in your current place? Why has it taken 6 months to get it sorted? Any correspondence to your ex-LL MUST be in writing now for proof. A text message won't wash if you end up in court for something.
Isn't it enough to just call the city council and tell them that way?
I did not take any meter readings, however when I called the water company a few days ago and told them the date when I moved out of the flat (my landlord had set up the account for me with them properly, I got a letter from them stating my move in date and the meter reading at that point in time), they told me to hold on and then they could give me an amount that I had to pay and I did it over the phone without providing any meter readings or anything so I'd assume they got a new meter reading since that time, I have no idea how this system works.
The current place I live in is a shared accomodation so I'm personally not paying any bills for the flat.
I've understood that a text message is not enough proof.
What do you suggest I do to save myself from future trouble as much as possible?0 -
Can you please read the thread not just the posts that say what you want to hear? You cannot prove phone calls or text messages and they do not count as proper notice. You can get proof of posting and/ or proof of delivery of a letter from the Post Office, as tenant who chose to vacate YOU are responsible for proving notice was properly served, the landlord is not responsible for proving it was not. It's up to the landlord whether or not he responds, that is not your problem.
There is nothing cruel about your landlord expecting you to meet your legal obligations, it is YOU who is trying to wriggle out of apying what you owe and YOU who is expecting someone else to pay your debts. :mad:
Again 20 June is not when your tenancy ended, you have no proof of that because you failed to serve your landlord proper notice. You can be liable for council tax for two properties if you are the legal occupant of two properties.
You have proof you gave the council the wrong date for the end of your tenancy, nothing more.
I've understood that conversations over the phone are not enough to prove anything legally.
I'm NOT trying to get out of paying anything I owe, I want to make this absolutely clear. (In fact I'd be super happy if I could just hand over 300 pounds to someone right now and get done with this, because it's giving me a lot of stress).
However I don't want to pay hundreds of pounds for bills for the times I was not occupying the flat and I also don't want to get a bad credit score. I just want to get done with this situation (properly) so I'm safe for the future.
What do you think is the best way for me to deal with this situation?0 -
I came to the conclusion that the best way for me to be safe from this situation is to somehow contact the ex landlord and get a written confirmation from him stating that we ended the tenancy agreement on the 20th of June and he frees me from the responsibility of paying any utility or council tax bills from that date on.
Do you agree with me?
As I stated in my previous posts my ex landlord is not very easy to reach so I'm not sure how I could get him to sign a document like
this . I'd think that if I only send him a letter with a contract like this, then he'd probably just ignore it (I base this assumption on how he has been ignoring my phone calls). So maybe I have to phisically go to his address and talk to him? Unfortunately he lives very far away from me.
If any of you has an idea on what is the easieasy way to solve all this then I'd be very grateful.0 -
Is it a good idea to call the city council and inquire if after the 10th of June someone had paid the council tax or not? This way at least I could be sure that I'm covered on that front.0
-
billquestion wrote: »I've understood that conversations over the phone are not enough to prove anything legally.
I'm NOT trying to get out of paying anything I owe, I want to make this absolutely clear. (In fact I'd be super happy if I could just hand over 300 pounds to someone right now and get done with this, because it's giving me a lot of stress).
However I don't want to pay hundreds of pounds for bills for the times I was not occupying the flat and I also don't want to get a bad credit score. I just want to get done with this situation (properly) so I'm safe for the future.
What do you think is the best way for me to deal with this situation?
You may not want to pay bills for a time when you were not occupying the flat but SOMEONE has to pay. Are you saying the landlord should, or the next tenant or other customers? Whilst you were still legally the tenant you were still legally liable for the council tax, standing charges on the water and energy. That would stop at the end of your notice or when the next tenant moved in, whichever was sooner.
You could have moved onto a no standing charge tariff and, if the flat was empty of furniture, applied for a CT exemption but unfortunately it is too late to do either now.
Sorry to be harsh but you just come over as trying to wriggle out of it to me. Maybe you are struggling to accept that you were still a tenant after 20 June, sorry but you were unless someone else moved in. Please understand a tenancy agreement is a legally binding contract, contracts are not ended by a casual text message that is for your mates.billquestion wrote: »Is it a good idea to call the city council and inquire if after the 10th of June someone had paid the council tax or not? This way at least I could be sure that I'm covered on that front.
Yes you can certainly ask when the next person started paying the bill and pay up to that date if they will tell you.Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 352.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454.3K Spending & Discounts
- 245.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.5K Life & Family
- 259.1K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards