End of Tenancy Council Tax Question

Reply to the comment left by "Mike W" at "21/09/2013 - 17:29":

Your post seems based on rental law and contract law. I posted on the assumption that CT law used at the header of the page will apply in this situation. On that basis, it may be useful to re-read my post

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Council tax legislation was written with a blinkered approach which only considered property sale and purchase. Consequently in order to avoid shared responsibility on completion day it is determined that an outgoing tax payer should not be liable for their last day which would fall to the ingoing one.
Unfortunately this does not work in the rental sector as AST agreements are never for the same day. So in all cases the last day's council tax of any rental contract is chrged to the landlord/ owner. This is nothing new but has only become an issue this year since most councils have taken up the option they were granted to dispense with any exemptions.
One days council tax may seem a trivial issue, but it is one days council tax for every landlord on every rental property on every tenancy change or termination.
Plus what a waste of money for the council to be creating accounts, raising bills and chasing debts for just one day. Obviously if there is a void period between tenancies this will not be the case but landlords will still be ripped off for the extra day

Reply to the comment left by "Jay Jay" at "21/09/2013 - 15:37":

any chance that someone knows the answer to my question in my post linked in the line above?
Put simply it asks:

Under Council Tax law, which if any determines legal responsibility to pay Council Tax;
1 Physical possession of a property or,
2 Whoever has a contractual responsibility to pay the rent for the property in question?

Reply to the comment left by "Jay Jay" at "22/09/2013 - 20:20":

The key is whether there is a tenancy, and thus a tenant. Even if the property is empty, if there is a tenancy then the tenant remains liable.
This is based on the statutory list of precedence regarding who's liable (Local Government Finance Act 1992):

(2) A person falls within this subsection in relation to any chargeable dwelling and any day if, on that day—
(a) he is a resident of the dwelling and has a freehold interest in the whole or any part of it;
...
(f) he is the owner of the dwelling.

(5) In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires—
“owner”, in relation to any dwelling, means the person as regards whom the following conditions are fulfilled—
(a) he has a material interest in the whole or any part of the dwelling; and
(b) at least part of the dwelling or, as the case may be, of the part concerned is not subject to a material interest inferior to his interest;

Ie. the tenant is the 'owner' for the purpose of the sections above.

Reply to Mike McD.

I think you are wrong wrt tenancy. You said: "So in all cases the last day’s council tax of any rental contract is chrged to the landlord/ owner."

If the lease ends on 30 June it includes all of 30th. The tenancy does not end half way through the day unless it says so in the lease - and that could cause problems wrt to 6 months!.

Whether the tenant leaves a month before, a day before or a minute before midnight on 30th, the tenant is responsible for the whole of the day.

I go back to a previous example. The tenancy ends 30 June. The tenant has signed a new lease starting 1 July. Do you really think they move out between the two tenancies? And the council charge the landlord for 1 night!!

Romain has provided the precedence.

There is nothing else to consider.

Anyone who has been caught out by the illogical arguments of a council ought to get the money back.

The council tried it out on me once and only once. I said you are wrong and if you want to test it in court I am prepared to go there. They backed off.

Reply to the comment left by "Mike W" at "23/09/2013 - 11:48":

IANAL, but I think it should also depend on what happen at the end of the tenancy:
Most often, on the last day a check out takes place and the tenant surrenders all the keys.
Commonly after that happens both parties consider that the tenancy has ended, that is, the landlord can freely go in and do as he pleases, and the tenant can no longer access the property and any damage is no longer his liability.
So in effect a surrender by operation of law has occurred, and the landlord is thus liable for the council tax on that day. This is the same scenario as the completion of a sale.

Romain,

The actions at the end do not affect the written document unless by mutual agreement the lease is amended.

As I said before the 'handover of keys' could be at anytime. A month before, a day after. Unless the lease were amended the lease continues as written - and the CT liabilities remain as previously posted. Whether the landlord undertakes work 'with the tacit agreement of the tenant' is immaterial. He could do work at anytime within the lease in accord with the agreement and with tenant approval.

I have had a situation where I rented a property for one year (less 1 day). The tenant was moved by his company after only 3 months. There was no break clause in the lease. The tenant moved out. I agreed to market the house and if a suitable tenant was obtained then I would agree to cancel the lease in order to take a new tenant. The market was down and no tenant emerged. I then asked if I could do some significant improvement work to improve the rent ability of the property. The property remained habitable. The tenant agreed. At no stage did the CT liability move from the tenant to me. Regrettably the works did not result in a new tenant within the 1 year term but did so two months later. cest la vie.

Reply to the comment left by "Mike W" at "23/09/2013 - 12:27":

Whatever the document says, the key is the behaviour of both parties: If they act in a way incompatible with the tenancy continuing, the the tenancy has ended by operation of law whatever the document says.
Actions are crucial.

Romain,

I disagree. There is no point in having a written agreement if you are going to ignore it. Note that I am also saying the agreement can be modified if both parties agree. But why would the landlord agree if it will cost him money? - unless he is to be compensated.

Handing in keys does not end the lease.

Doing an inventory check does not end the lease.

Unless of course you have that action written into your lease? I don't.

Anyway you can pay CT voluntarily if you want. It will lower my ct bills. The claim is not valid.