Council Tax legal advice – they say I owe £5,000!

knowing the law but the costs involved in enforcing it is another you could even be more out of pocket with legal costs now it was that the occupier was responsible for utility bills but that is changing and all council are not the same and can change things without notice that houses HMO the owner would be responsible thats why a lot of landlords include in the rent an amount for utility bills. unless you are sure you can get the money if awarded by the court the tenant would pay and if they on benefit that is most unlikely if they working then you would be able to get an order for a deduction of earning of there wages. and if you do proceed to go to court make sure all paperwork is in order else it will get thrown out and you will be at a disadvantage to if they get legal aid and you are not.

I think you are onto a loser here. The best course of action is to talk to somebody in the council who shows some semblance of common sense and try and work out a compromise agreement about the amount of council tax you will have to come up with. I am afraid they are right about the landlord being the responsible person liable for unpaid council tax, but with the circumstances being as you describe, you should be able to argue the sum down quite considerabley. Going after the ex-tenants through the Courts will be time consuming and if they put up a defence, quite probably futile. Another thing you have to consider, in the event of a court hearing. They are held in the jurisdiction of the tenant, not the landlord, so you will have additional expenses associated with any travel and accommodation. The judge or JP who deals with the case will in all probabilty not allow these against the defendant. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it is better to cut your losses in some cases and I fear this is one of them.

I have fought and won the council on same issue. When you rented out the property on your tenancy it states that tenant is responsible so you can go after the tenant. That council you deal with may not have had the HMO rules in when your latest tenants moved in? The person on HBenefit would have had their ctax paid for by council so how come that wasn't sorted. The council made a mistake and there should be some discount for you. For ctax purposes councils use a different criteria so I think you do may have to pay BUT it's more like they're coming for you "after the fact" and after they billed the other tenant. I have been paying at £30 a month for similar problem, SO, go into council and negotiate, explain that you have limited funds and pay that amount. THEN you can claim all your ctax back as an allowable expense OFF your taxes at year end tax year, so it is all not lost. (It might even bring your tax bracket down).

Thanks for your input guys.

To AA Properties, the council offered me nothing and wouldn't take any responsibility. They said I could appeal to the Valuation Tribunal but that can take months and no guarantee. How did you manage to convince them?

What you have to do is send a letter market Appeal. Then state your case based on what you regard as your tenants bill for ctax and the services your tenant received for paying his ctax. Wait for their reply. Do not admit.anything in letter. In their reply they should explain why they are charging you, ie HMO. That gives you the basis to fight their assumption. I did the same and explained that the tenant signed the tenancy to be responsible for ctax, but I had no HMO. You have to delay conciliation and by putting in official appeal letter they should stop everything. Then I would start going after the previous tenants for payment. Your main concern is when did council perceive your property as HMO and when can they apply to a that ctax??
Tribunals
Start an application this will put all a action on hold as well.

Hi, it's too late for that. I did all of that and had it all rejected. I have already started a payment plan.

The council also said that any tribunal action wouldn't stop their request for the money until a decision was made and would only run alongside it.

I am looking into this as we speak but it could take months.

Hi DF,

"It is a large two storey house with 4 tenants in individual rooms. . They are all unrelated and have individual tenancy agreements."

This makes it beyond doubt that the property is a HMO for council tax purposes. Therefore the landlord is liable for council tax.

As you are the person liable in law, AND the easy target it is not surprising that the council behaves the way it does.
A payment plan would be the best you could get, IMHO. Unfortunately I think that this is completely discretionary.

You could in turn go after you tenants and ex-tenants for the money. However I think that your clause is rather weak, so the outcome would be far from guaranteed.

Given you seem surprised that you have been running an HMO, do you have all the HMO legal and safety requirements covered, including planning and licencing if applicable in your area?

The council tax could be the least of your worries if not. Fines for HMO breaches can be large and lay you open to tenants' rent repayment orders.

I was only surprised about the council tax. I have an HMO that doesn't require licensing in my area. Thanks

DF, it's so easy to be caught out, and I feel for you. However to all readers this is a salutary lesson - so often posters put on here that an agent is a waste of money (I'm not an agent and I know there are dodgy ones) but if you manage yourself, you really have to do a lot of homework. You have been caught out because you didn't know what you didn't know. There are websites and courses which explain everything.