LMcNeice Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Hi I was wondering if anybody could help me. I rented my house out at the beginning of September to 3 students, each who had their own separate tenancy agreement. As the house was entirely rented to students, this meant there was no council tax payable on the house. The following month one of the students left university, and started claiming housing benefit, which I agreed to receive. I have now recently received a bill from the council tax office, saying I owe them the full amount of council tax due on the property form when the student left university. I have enquired about why the tax falls to me, and why her benefits do not cover the tax, and was told that because she lives in a 'House of Multiple Occupants' the tax falls to me, but if she had a joint tenancy agreement they would pay it. However in the original tenancy agreement, it stated: 'Should Council Tax be payable on the premises then the tenant shall pay said charge within 14 days of becoming due' Can I claim the tax I have to paid, back off the tenant? Any help would be greatly appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 One for Trenners! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Not sure, but make sure the charge is 75% and not 100%, since with only one person ledgible, there should be a 25% releif. I thought people on housing benefit wouldn't have to pay council tax? And they do, the amount of housing benefit must include enough money to pay for the council tax. Doesn't sound fair that you should pay and since only 1 person is ledgible why is there a problem with the bill going to the tenant. To be honest what I would do is just inform the council that this person is at the property and liable to pay tax from a certain date, not mentioning anything about the type of tenancy then the council will issue a bill with a schedule of payment over the rest of the year (so the tenant may not even notice). I certainly wouldn't pay council tax for somewhere you don't live, that would be tax gone mad. The way the tenancy agreements are written for sharers like yours, certianly state that the tenants are liable for council tax and bills etc. Don't let the council take the michael, they will try anything on to save money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Hi, I haven't come across this before ..... but a couple of points to consider. a) the tenancy agreement states that the tenant is responsible for paying the council tax - so any payment should be recovered from the tenant. just because a tenant is receiving Housing Benefit does not necessarily mean that the tenant is exempt from Council tax. The reason why HB and Council Tax are assessed separately is because some tenants will receive a small amount of Housing Benefit (based on their earnings and savings) and will not be exempt from Council tax. Hope that helps ........ Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.