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Historic Council Tax Issue

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Comments

  • Irish_lad80
    Irish_lad80 Posts: 27 Forumite
    molerat wrote: »
    And when the tenants fail to pay the rent and do a runner the LL gets stiffed for the council tax as well ;)
    Landlord does have the deposit so that would cover the council tax especially as a lot of places look for more than the months rent as deposit.
  • Irish_lad80
    Irish_lad80 Posts: 27 Forumite
    AdrianC wrote: »
    ...?

    Seriously?

    A two-bed flat rented out to a single tenant... should be an HMO? That makes a mockery of the whole point of flagging genuine HMOs.


    In that case you inform the council that it is single occupancy, then it's adjusted accordingly. It should be simple to do.
  • Irish_lad80
    Irish_lad80 Posts: 27 Forumite
    AdrianC wrote: »
    Four people are listed, because four people are listed on the electoral roll for the property. All of those people are jointly and severally liable for the entire bill. How, or even whether, they apportion the bill between them is not the local authority's problem.


    Not disputing that they are liable for the amount, it's the once they find one person listed then just chasing them for the bill threatening with extra fines etc and ignoring the others (if that is indeed what has happened and the haven't contacted the others) that gets me and seems the school yard bully stuff. Especially given the very short time frame to pay up after 10 years.
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 31,849 Forumite
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    Irish_lad80 wrote: »
    Landlord does have the deposit so that would cover the council tax especially as a lot of places look for more than the months rent as deposit.
    Have you not watched the various bailiff / landlord !!!!!! shows on TV where the tenant does a bunk owing £Ks, way in excess of any deposit.
  • Irish_lad80
    Irish_lad80 Posts: 27 Forumite
    molerat wrote: »
    Have you not watched the various bailiff / landlord !!!!!! shows on TV where the tenant does a bunk owing £Ks, way in excess of any deposit.


    Haha no I haven't, didn't know those shows existed. I know it will happen on occasion (happened to a brother, but he wrote it off a risk to the investment which will happen from time to time, dropped his rental yield for the year but over the longer medium term it mattered little) but if a landlord gets references, from both work and prior landlords this will surely reduce the risk.
  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260 Forumite
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    AdrianC wrote: »
    ...?

    Seriously?

    A two-bed flat rented out to a single tenant... should be an HMO? That makes a mockery of the whole point of flagging genuine HMOs.

    Technically for council tax purposes a property like that could be a council tax HMO. It's unusual to see but it's not unknown, it depends on the terms of the rental.
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
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    Irish_lad80 wrote: »
    Not disputing that they are liable for the amount, it's the once they find one person listed then just chasing them for the bill threatening with extra fines etc and ignoring the others (if that is indeed what has happened and the haven't contacted the others) that gets me and seems the school yard bully stuff.
    Let's say a group of four people owe YOU money. They unequivocally owe it you with joint and several liability.

    You go after that money. You find one of the people easily. You can't find the other three similarly easily.

    What would YOU do?
  • Irish_lad80
    Irish_lad80 Posts: 27 Forumite
    AdrianC wrote: »
    Let's say a group of four people owe YOU money. They unequivocally owe it you with joint and several liability.

    You go after that money. You find one of the people easily. You can't find the other three similarly easily.

    What would YOU do?
    Firstly I'd keep looking for the other three and not just give up when I find one person (maybe I have too much common decency). On a debt of this age I would then also look at the tenants payment history in houses since this time (assuming I have access to their council tax history) to get a picture of their payment history. If it's spotty at best then I may well look for more than a quarter of the amount from that one person. I would also give them more than two weeks to try and unearth any documentation that they may have, get old bank statements and provide the statement history that I have on the property. But I don't think I would rush to get everything off the one person, but that's just me.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
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    Irish_lad80 wrote: »
    But I don't think I would rush to get everything off the one person
    But they owe you the full amount...
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    Irish_lad80 wrote: »
    I don't think I would rush to get everything off the one person, but that's just me.
    Yes, it is just you. And the debt we're talking about isn't even yours! What's your friend's opinion about it?
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