Liability of Council tax for tenants

[Acerdave]

Hi all,

I own a property let to a group of four 2 students and 2 workers (group of friends) all on a joint tenancy, the council is insisting I am liable for the council tax and has a liability order against me - I went to the magistrates court but only got to see council tax collections team, I never got to see a magistrate to put my case forward.

so I did a little searching on the net and found the council tax liability for owners regulations for hmo property's class c a dwelling inhabited by persons who do not constitute a single household, each of whom either-

Houses in multiple occupation, etc

(a) is a tenant of, or has a license to occupy, part only of the dwelling; or

(b) has a licence to occupy but is not ( whether alone or jointly with other persons ) to pay rent or a licence fee in respect of the dwelling as a whole.

so from this I read as they are jointly liable for the whole property I am not liable,

can i take the council to county court and reclaim this money?

many thanks

Dave

Houses in multiple occupation, etc

Class C	a dwelling inhabited by persons who do not constitute a single household, each of whom either–
	(a) is a tenant of, or has a licence to occupy, part only of the dwelling; or
	(b) has a licence to occupy but is not liable (whether alone or jointly with other persons) to pay rent or a licence fee in respect of the dwelling as a whole.

[charitynjw]

Re: Liability of Council tax for tenants

Hi Acerdave & welcome to LB.

The crux of the situation re HMO appears to be whether the tenants have full access to all areas of the house, or whether they only have a licence for part of the dwelling.
Even the Local Authority & the Valuation Tribunal can err as regards the interpretation.
A good starting point to see how the courts would view it is

Goremsandu, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Harrow [2010] EWHC 1873 (Admin) (26 July 2010)

[Acerdave]

Re: Liability of Council tax for tenants

Thanks for your reply, reading Goremsandu v London borough of Hackney, am I correct thinking I would be sucessfull in county court action? Even though they have a liability order from the magistrates court?
The house is a 5 bed property and they have access to all parts of the house and have no specific room is allocated, it's joint tenancy

Thanks

[charitynjw]

Re: Liability of Council tax for tenants

Thanks for your reply, reading Goremsandu v London borough of Harrow, am I correct thinking I would be sucessfull in county court action? Even though they have a liability order from the magistrates court?
The house is a 5 bed property and they have access to all parts of the house and have no specific room is allocated, it's joint tenancy

Thanks

IFYPFY

[Kati]

Re: Liability of Council tax for tenants

[MENTION=15129]Crazy council[/MENTION] might be able to tell you who has to pay CT (I've tagged him) xx

[ploddertom]

Re: Liability of Council tax for tenants

You need to do some more reading to define what a HMO is.

http://www.nationalhmonetwork.com/definition.php

From my understanding of what you say you have the equivalent of 4 households living in the property - 2 of which may be exempt from paying. Yes I think you are due to pay CT but obviously should set your rents accordingly.

[Crazy council]

Re: Liability of Council tax for tenants

It would be a hmo under most circumstances defiantly. If they were all related then maybe, but its not worth the hassle of dealing with any consequences or trying to persuade the council any different.

[Acerdave]

Re: Liability of Council tax for tenants

I have sent out 14 days notice of legal action to the council, so we'll see who's right or wrong in this case,
but after reading the judgment supplied by Charitynjw I feel quite confident, I will update with the result,

many thanks for the help...