Government to end council tax on HMO rooms

One person in an HMO should pay something comparable with one person in a one bedroom flat (potentially).

If they want to charge just one council tax for the whole BTL property, then the property ought to be revalued and the council tax band reset accordingly.

I’d bring back the Poll Tax 🙂 .

If individual rooms are assessed for Council Tax - usually Band A - the aggregate tax for the whole property is invariably greater than a single assessment for the property. At the end of the day, even if the landlord bears the tax, the tenants end up paying for it through higher rents.

Gove needs to watch out that student landlords are able to "pass on" liability for the tax to students who are exempt from the tax. Otherwise, student rents will increase further.

Michael Gove could also help tenants in HMOs by not requiring them each to obtain a TV licence.. In a five bed HMO, six TV licences may be required if everyone watches a TV or iPlayer in their own room..

If this transfers the CT liability from the T to the LL, then rents will need rise to compensate - obviously the T should get the overall saving (assuming there is one).
Will LL be allowed to increase rents WHEN the rules change, or will they be expected to bear the increased costs, while the T makes all the savings?

This probably does not go far enough. We have a large house, which we divided into 11 self-contained units, although they still share the utilities. This may not be covered by the HMO changes. If all tenants were paying the full cancel tax, and based on 2009 valuations when the 3 properties were valued at the same time, those in the 11 units would be paying 4.8% of the property values, and in our home it would be 0.6%. I would charge one council tax on the whole of the large property, which would be band E or F, rather than 11 at band A. Then the landlord would pay and we could include council tax with the other bills.

I would also abolish council-tax discounts and exemptions, and increase other benefits and student maintenance grants. This ends the current wasteful system. Three times I have been in the magistrate's court for non-payment of council tax, which costs the council money and costs me time. I have had bailiffs knocking on the door chasing previous tenants for council tax, where these tenants did not claim the student exemption. This must be costly. I usually get several repeat invoices after I send the council details of tenant changes. Given that the median time a tenant is with us is 12-months, the waste in the system just compounds its unfairness.

I would suggest a council tax of, say 1%, of the property value paid by the owners. To avoid the old rates problem, the value should not be increased when improvements are made; VAT is paid on these anyway.

Welcome though this news is on HMOs, I cynically wonder how much the Government's decision is being influenced by those big developers who are chucking up blocks of flats purely for renting? Fair few of these developments springing up now around south London.

I think the whole system should be overhauled.

Maybe introduce a Band 0 to go with Bands A to G. Band 0 could apply to occupants in HMOs and may be around 50% of the area’s Band A price.

Do we know when this is coming into effect?
Thanks

This came into effect 1st December 2023. Whilst it may solve some bedsit type HMO council tax problems it creates a major problem for landlords renting a whole HMO house out on one tenancy agreement. The NRLA helpline have confirmed from 1st December it is now the landlord that is responsible for council tax and not the tenant. All my own HMOs are student HMO houses, all on one tenancy agreement, and the NRLA have confirmed I am now liable for council tax but that liability is £0 if I can prove they are all full time students and as long as they remain full time students i.e. as long as one of them doesn't drop out of their course or graduate and start working. If you have an HMO with working professionals or mix of students and professionals on one tenancy agreement in an HMO - you are now liable for the council tax from 1st December 2023!!!!!! This really has slipped in under the radar.

I don’t understand many of the comments on here.
In essence the 'change' isn’t a change, it's confirmation that the current and most widespread C Tax payment system will remain. What is NOT happening is a scaling up of the random and inconsistent VOA/Council disaggregation of assessments in some locations, where Band A assessments were inflicted on some LLs/tenants e.g. for rooms with en- suites or kitchenettes. This will be stopped and this fragmented approach will not be rolled out across the country. Where this has happened, the former single assessment for the property will be reinstated. Further, no special HMO bands are to be introduced.
It’s a WIN for HMO LLs, and it hasn’t been slipped in under the radar – the campaign has been active for quite a while.
So, HMOs with joint and several tenants who have CT liability (student or not) will remain as - is, and HMOs with rooms let individually will continue to pay on the property’s current (single) assessment, usually paid by the LL as part of the all-inclusive rent.

Reply to the comment left by Freda Blogs at 04/12/2023 - 14:39
NRLA are saying that HMOs with joint and several tenants who have CT liability (student or not) will NOT remain as - is. The liability for that council tax is now always with the Landlord from 1st December whereas prior to 1st December the joint and several tenants could and often were made liable for council tax via the tenancy agreement