house rented (dss) council tax question(help)

[cayman-black]

Hi i rented a two bedroom house to a young lady about three years ago. For three months during her tenacy she got a girl friend into the spare room to help with the rent, this girl was claiming too! Now the council have said that i have to pay three months council tax as i was running my house as a business as i let out two rooms.
But i rented the whole house to this young lady under contract and i did agree to her letting a friend have the spare room to help her out.
Does this seem right?

Edited by cayman-black on Monday 9th December 16:45

[Eric Mc]

Did you breach the terms and conditions you had in place with the local council?

What restrictions did the local council put in place regarding additional tenants?

What do you mean "have to pay three months rent"?

You own the property (presumably) so who do you pay rent to?

Or is the local council saying to you that payments made to you by them in respect of were Rental Support needs to be paid back to them because you took the money from them under false pretences?

Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 9th December 16:08

[cayman-black]

Sorry i mean that they want three months council tax from me.
As far as i know i broke no rules.

Edited by cayman-black on Monday 9th December 16:46

[Eric Mc]

Who normally paid the council tax?

Who's council tax are they after - your's as landlord or council tax that should have been paid by the second tenant?

[cayman-black]

Well they are saying as there where two girls living there i owe them the council tax for the three months that the second girl lived there. When the orginal girl took the house they where paying the council tax for her as she was claiming for housing benefit and unemployment. I do know this girl and she has told the council that she was there at the time and the house was down to her.

[dazwalsh]

I would tell the council to jog on, You have nothing to do with the council tax whilst a tenant is living there. They should be chasing her if they have any problems.

[cayman-black]

dazwalsh said:

I would tell the council to jog on, You have nothing to do with the council tax whilst a tenant is living there. They should be chasing her if they have any problems.

Shes been in touch to tell them as well.

[cayman-black]

contango said:

Sounds straight forward enough!.....You had someone else living there, who did not qualify for an exemption so you have to pay for that period.

It's a bit like the single occupancy discount, this becomes null and void when another adult moves in.
3 months, easier to pay and move on surely?

But if some one rents the house they are due to pay the council tax even if they rent the spare room ,how come its down to me? So two girls living there and for the three months the second girl was there the whole tax due in that time is down to me, cant be right.

[Eric Mc]

dazwalsh said:

I would tell the council to jog on, You have nothing to do with the council tax whilst a tenant is living there. They should be chasing her if they have any problems.

It's not as simple as that. Landlords SOMETIMES will be liable for arrears of Council Tax payable originally by a tenant.
The landlord need to know the EXACT nature of the tenancy they have in place.

Here's some easy reading -
http://www.landlords.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/co...

I would advise the OP to read this thoroughly and carefully. It does sound like he has been rather naive in his approach to being a landlord and could be in trouble on this UNLESS he takes the right steps to defend his position.

[cayman-black]

Thanks Eric and all. Seem,s that what they decide is right and i will just have to pay and move on.

[Eric Mc]

cayman-black said:

Thanks Eric and all. Seem that what they decide is right and i will just have to pay and move on.

Not necessarily. If you ere in the UK, a visit to a CAB might be in order.

[dazwalsh]

You also have the right to appeal it.