philtomo Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Hi guys, to cut a long story short, 2 "friends" that use to rent my house out about 3 years ago didnt pay the council tax for the whole year plus some more, and now the council are wanting it, it was originally in their name but after numerous letters to the address (of which i am living now) the council have put it in my name and are demanding this off me! They say that i should give them copies of the tennacy agreements, and if i cant then i will have to pay the full £1400! (but im not sure if i have these for these agreements for the certain people staying there at that time) Any advice would be gratefull Many Thanks Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Look Harder for the agreement- are you still in contact with your "friends" or know their whereabouts? if you are then and you can find the agreements then pass all of the info to CT and they will leave you alone - If you can't find the original agreement then i bet you can find a photo copy of it - you know- the one which is not a brilliant copy because the signatures were in blue pen and didn't come out very well at all on the copy ( blue biro doesn't photo copy very well at all) and send that to them and as it has been so long explain that you did have fowarding addresses but you cant find them now - really sorry and all that and if the CT do catch up with them could they pass the info back to you as you need to collect back rent as well! I am assuming you weren't resident at the time - so prove where you were and show that you paid CT at an alternative address as a law abiding citizen In future when letting take meter readings and inform all utilities and CT within days of new tenants moving in - I have had this one happen to me countless times in the past including tenants moving the bill back into my name within a week of moving in and not finding out about it until they have left ! Also always get a photo copy of id with a photograph and keep all of this safe for 6 years ( as required by IR ) to avoid this happening again !This realy helps when trying to shift liability back to where it should be - just expect all tenants to have your trousers down at all times and then you will be pleasantly surprised that there are quite a lot of really decent people out there as well ! Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philtomo Posted March 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 thanks for your speedy reply, much appreciated basically what has happened is 2 of my mates moved in to start with, (of which at the time i got and signed agreement off them, Im 100% sure of that) then one of my mates moved out, replaced him with one of his mates, then my other orig mate moved out and got another of his mates in, so two new ppl in there of iv never met before. now at this time i dont think i got them to sign an agreement but just left it from the orig one, it was these two new guys who havnt paid the tax (i think) (i only got the bills through yesterday with all the dates etc..) yeah i was living else where and paying tax, of which i mentioned to the guy on the phone and he said that there not charging me for living there, but for owning the house! are you saying that i should "make an agreement up"? (apologise if i took the post wrong) yeah i kind of know where one of them lives (one of the original guys, who was my mate at the time) and i can find out where exactly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Heaven forbid - perish the thought!!! that is nearly as bad as paying someone else's CT bill . I would look again for either the original or the "copy" CT may take some convincing as this has become protracted - if it happens again make sure the original or "copy" is available immediately so as to quash it before it gets out of hand - like now. If you have a copy of the original and it covers the period concerned then it makes the people named on that lease legally responsible for the period - if there are 3 people on the agreement then it is joint and several - so CT can chase any one or all of thr people on lease but not you - if no lease was written to replace this one then this one stands and it is not your problem- just give CT the info ( along with any forwarding addresses you have )and let them decide what to do with it - the point is you need to show on paper that YOU were not responsible the tenants were/are-As long as you can provide a lease with names on it (and the lease states the named tenants are responsible for Ct utilities etc) you are home and dry ! Simon Good luck Simon Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molly jones Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 From my experience of working for an LA (10 years ago) with any dispute evidence is king. Pull bank statements indicating they were liable for and paying the rent for disputed period, gather any paperwork relating to their liability for utility bills. Provide evidence of when you moved out of your previous address and into the property subject to the council tax dispute. Obtain a copy of their Appeals Procedure. Can you check the electoral register to ascertain the date they stipulated they moved into their subsequent property - if the dispute progresses, ascertain how much it would cost to employ a 'tracing agency' which can supply this information, including credit agreements taken out at new property. Good luck, Molly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted March 21, 2007 Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 A lot of Councils are adopting a hard line approach on this now.............. Failure to inform them of change of occupation with names etc. will leave you liable. If you have an AST signed and dated and legal then they will listen to you and probably not chase you for the cash but pass it to the Council legal department to sort out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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