Tenants non payment of Council Tax

[sam9002]

I have Tenants who signed an Assured Tenancy agreement 9 months ago, which included a clause to pay council Tax payment.

The house was rented as a whole unit, one rental payment for the whole house was mentioned on the agreement signed by the Tenants, they each got a copy of the same agreement, one of the people made a claim for Housing benefit, and asked me to state to the council, her portion of the rent was X rent per week, I did that, thinking nothing of it, now the council said the house is a multiple occupation house, and therefore I the non resident landlord would have to pay the council Tax. They refunded the Tenants 4 months paid council Tax, and set me up with an Account to pay the council Tax.

I showed the council the agreement, with the one rental figure for the whole house showing, they said because of the information received by the Tenant, it was a house of multiple occupation, I explained this was not the case, they said the contract would have to be changed, but could not offer any advice on how to change it.

I only changed the agreement contract in relation to having each person sign the Agreement, on the first and last page, together with a witness,

On the previous agreement signed 9 months ago , they came as one group of friends, 2 couples each signed one copy of the same agreement, and a single person signed another copy of the same agreement, so their was 3 copies of the same agreement with one house rental figure mentioned for the whole house.

A couple has moved out, they agreed in principle to pay a portion of the Council Tax, via e-mail, although no money has been received so far, so maybe that was just a false promise.


The other Tenants are refusing to sign the new agreement format, the council Tax dept are sending payment notices for over 9 months Council tax over due payment orders to me.

A hold will remain on your account to stop recovery action for 21 days from January 27th, to enable you time to provide the tenancy agreement.


Is it possible to delay the payment,and buy some time to get the money for such a sum, or stagger the payment over 2-3 months? and buy time to get the existing Tenants to sign the agreement, or prove they are liable for the council tax, having signed the origional agreement 9 months ago, or simply terminate their contract and get new people in, if they refuse to sign the new agreement and pay the council tax.

What are my rights to terminate their contract, and ask them to leave within a month, or is their a time frame for notice?

By them refusing to sign the agreement, and not pay the council Tax, I will be liable, it looks like, is this so?

[Caspar]

Re: Tenants non payment of Council Tax

I have to say, playing by the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the contract they signed is bound to wind you up. I would look at the contract and see how quickly you can lawfully get rid of them and give them the required notice. By the sounds of it, they deserve it.

[sam9002]

Re: Tenants non payment of Council Tax

Thank you very much,

Is their a way of properly structuring a leave notice, their contract finished at end of May. They are looking for 2 months written notice.

I want as far as possible to ensure they pay the rent up until the end, and not take the deposit from the last months rent, as a result the council said it was a HMO, that person also got Benefit paid, they have sent false information to the local council, stating they pay for individual rooms, which is untrue, it's one payment for the whole house, and they moved in as one group, as a result the council said it was a HMO.

I will now have to pay the back dated council Tax, and onwards until the end of their contract, even though this is not the case, and the contract they signed, has a clause in it, which states they are liable for the council Tax.

They sough legal advice from a housing Association away from the house jurisdiction:

from the information provided your current accommodation is a house in multiple occupation (HMO).

The definition of HMO is found in the Housing Act 2004. Whether or not a building is an HMO will depend on a number of tests or factors. These are that the building or part of the building:

• meets the 'standard test' (see below)
• meets the 'self-contained flat test'
• meets the 'converted building test'
• is declared an HMO by the local authority or
• is a converted block of flats of specific description.

The standard test is met if a building or part of the building:

• consists of one or more units of accommodation not comprising self-contained flats
• the accommodation is occupied by persons who do not form a single household
• the living accommodation is occupied by those persons as their only or main residence or should be treated as such, eg students
• their occupation constitutes the only use of that accommodation
• rents are payable or other consideration is to be provided, and
• two or more of the households share one or more basic amenities (toilet, personal washing facilities or cooking facilities) or the accommodation lacks one or more of these amenities.

Under Part 1 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, the owner (rather than occupier) of a HMO is liable for council tax. Please find confirmation attached.

If your tenancy agreement states that the occupiers are liable, this would be considered an unfair term. Landlords cannot contract out of statutory provisions (e.g. the Local Government Finance Act 1992). Unfair terms cannot be enforced against tenants.

They brought a friend into the house recently, and have not given me his details, and refeerences for him, despite me asking for them many times, this breaks the contract.

I’ve also been told that we should not sign any new or amended backdated agreements.

I’ve been advised to suggest to you that the only thing you can do with regards to the Council Tax bill is to take it out of our rent for this coming month (to be paid by 4pm on 3rd March.) With any further Council Tax payment to be included in the monthly rent.

As we’ve said before, we simply do NOT have the kind of money you’re asking for and we are NOT comfortable with the idea of paying anyone besides Croydon Council directly.

To end the tenancy then we will require a formal signed and dated two months Notice from yourselves.

I need to cover all my Bases with these people,

Thank you for your help.

[Caspar]

Re: Tenants non payment of Council Tax

I cannot offer advice on your post as I have no direct experience of being a landlord. However a quick Google came up with this site:

Evicting tenants

There were loads of others. I'm in no way advocating the site above, I'm just saying it is one of many that came up on a very quick google search.

[sam9002]

Re: Tenants non payment of Council Tax

Thank you Good site,

"I’ve been advised to suggest to you that the only thing you can do with regards to the Council Tax bill is to take it out of our rent for this coming month (to be paid by 4pm on 3rd March.)


With any further Council Tax payment to be included in the monthly rent."


What do they mean by this statement?

Their existing contract their is a figure for the whole house, not individual rooms.

Can I increase the Rent to incorporate the Ctax figure for March and April?

Or will they say, we are no going to pay the increased Rent?

What's the best thing to do?

Thank you

[Caspar]

Re: Tenants non payment of Council Tax

How much would their deposit cover if you did not return it to them?