Landlord discrimination – the last straw?

Reply to the comment left by Paul Smith at 17/10/2024 - 10:52
Regrettably you are responsible for the council tax and to add insult to injury you have now to go to court to gain possession, a process which now costs circa £400 and can easily take six months or more and involves you or your solicitor attending court. Please remember to add those few words to future tenancies indicating that any continuation is as a contractual periodic tenancy.

Note that this may all change with the Renters Reform Act.

Just to be clear under rental reform the landlord will have to wait for three months arrears before starting section 8, then wait probably 6 months before determined by the courts meaning a 9 month loss of rent. Then property turnaround costs and extra council tax. The affect of this will likely make landlords very very careful about who they rent to. The most vulnerable will likely be put in the same box as tenants with any poor history regardless of any discrimination law to prevent this. The results will be a crisis for poorer tenants and the vulnerable. Because the government is failing to allow landlords to remove people who are not what they pretend to be. The impact will be terrible for the many vulnerable decent people who are then put into the same pile. If the government first acknowledged some tenants are unsuitable and allowed tools that worked fairly to remove them without undue stress and cost, only then would the situation improve?

Reply to the comment left by TheMaluka at 16/10/2024 - 17:01
My reply was based on the OPs statement that "the property is on a fixed ast", and on that basis was correct.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Smith at 16/10/2024 - 23:30
All Councils accept a tenants word that theyve moved out. They don't ask for evidence.

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 17/10/2024 - 13:35
Provided that the fixed term is of greater than or equal to six months, then the tenant is responsible for the council tax during the fixed term.

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 17/10/2024 - 13:37
I had a situation (a few years ago) when my tenant was offered Social housing but retained access to my rental while she "moved things over gradually". Needless to say she didn't pay the rent that month despite promises. The key here was that she lied to the council about her move out date so I was presented with a bill for a few weeks council tax - which I challenged. First council response was that personal items or white goods left insitu were of no relevance for them. I was able to provide evidence of a number of items of furniture, a hamster that was being fed by her during that period, and her accessing the property on a daily basis to collect various items (and the hamster). Senior manager at the Council supported my counter-claim and the ex-tenant received the bill! Success - albeit that she also left me with unpaid rent and damage expenses. So my advice is to get the evidence of the furniture or whatever personal items remain; photographic or with an agent in tow. After all, you've probably gained "emergency" access because of the smell of gas.......

I'm still unsure what's going on here. If the tenant told the council they have left and they have stopped paying rent, that's clearly an abandoned property. There are many reasons someone would leave a car on the drive. For example, they have been sent to jail. Long story short, there's a procedure for abandoned properties which does not require any court action. I'd follow that procedure. Basically it involves posting a notice inside and outside the property telling them you consider it abandoned and giving them a certain amount of time. Follow that procedure and change the locks afterwards. If you are worried, about their valuables, rent some self storage for a while. But if they're gone, they're gone. An abandoned property is an abandoned property

Reply to the comment left by Robert Sled at 17/10/2024 - 20:35Yes exactly, put notices on door, give time... These are no more than checks to see if the the tenant is still there? If so why should the landlord pay council tax during this period while he is checking. The tenancy had not been legally ended and is still live. The landlord had no right of access so why should the landlord cover council tax. The law is clear in a statutory periodic phase the tenant is required to give a month's notice. If the tenant hadn't done this how can it be legally justified to charge the landlord. Any case law may not have been properly argued?

Hi Robert Sled, you are right once the property is abandoned and the landlord has changed the lock, that's when I'd expect the landlord to have taken possession and legally be responsible for council tax. However before then when the landlord is stressed and putting notices on the door and giving time to the tenant to show abandonment and when the landlord had no legal access to the property then on what planet should the landlord cover the council tax during this period? The tenant hadn't given legal notice (which is legally required) under their periodic statutory tenancy and is responsible for the council tax while in situ. The landlord has no clear knowledge the property is abandoned and has no access to it but the tenant still has. The discrimination the council applies is they know there is a live month to month statutory periodic tenancy and the landlord is denied access, yet they know the tenant still has access under the periodic tenancy which has not legally ended. How can the council reasonable claim the landlord is responsible for council tax over a property he has no access to. Do you not think that is unfair?

Please all of you stop this nonsense about fairness, this is a legal situation and as we all know the law is nothing to do with fairness.

Statutory Periodic - Landlord responsible after tenant vacates without giving notice.

Contractual Periodic - Tenant responsible after tenant vacates without giving notice.

Trustees of the Berwick Settlement v Shropshire District Council, 3245M131738176C