Council tax liability dates make no sense?

Council tax liability dates make no sense?

10:04 AM, 4th October 2016, About 8 years ago 31

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I have been billed for council tax for a void period. The tenant left on 31 August and a new one moved in on 9th September.tax date

I was charged for the void period as 31 Aug to 8th September. I believe I should have been charged for the period 1-8 September.

Although the amount involved is insignificant I believe the principle is interesting , the council reply is:

“To clarify, I would advise you that Council Tax Law provides that a persons liability begins on the first day of ownership/occupation, but ceases the day prior to their sale/vacation. In this case their tenancy ceased on 31st August 2016 and therefore were charged until the 30st August 2016, therefore resulting in the owner of the premises being liable with effect from the 31st August 2016”

On that basis I will have to advise all new tenants who take over properties consecutively that they will be responsible for council tax for the day before they move in!

Is this right?

Phil


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Comments

Romain Garcin

15:41 PM, 4th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "David Price" at "04/10/2016 - 15:15":

Yes, David, 'if'.

This implies that you let the tenant have possession of the property for the entire last day.
IMO, it would be difficult to carry out the checkout and get the keys back and them claim that the tenancy continues nevertheless, as mentioned previously.

15:59 PM, 4th October 2016, About 8 years ago

I've never read the full details of Sidebotham v Holland - anyone know of a link to the full case report ?

Craig / lgfa92

TheMaluka

19:08 PM, 4th October 2016, About 8 years ago

I am now back on my computer and can reply in more detail than was possible from my phone. Sidebotham v Holland defines the end of the day, specifically that 24:00 is the same as 00:00, this is important when defining the end of the tenancy. You will not find details of the case on the web and must visit a legal library to find a paper copy. Having defined the end of the day it is then essential to define the end of the tenancy within the AST. Provided the AST is for more than six months (which it must be) and continues by default as a CONTRACTUAL periodic tenancy then it is a tenancy for more than six months at all times. Thus the tenant is responsible for council tax until the tenancy ends which is at midnight. It matters not one jot whether the tenant is in occupation it is when the tenancy ends that counts. As far as the council is concerned it is a private arrangement (how often have I heard that term in relation to housing benefit) and they have no idea of the time the tenant actually left or handed over the keys. To answer Romain's point the council are not involved in any way with this private arrangement and cannot make any assumptions save that the agreement says that the tenancy ends at midnight.
Why is this so important? Because I was getting a bill for circa £3 when there was no void period, sent by post and returned with a reply paid envelope. The cost to me and to the council was way in excess of £3 and something needed to be done. I no longer pay any council tax for the last day and hare had all my last day payments refunded.

14:50 PM, 7th October 2016, About 8 years ago

I managed to my hands on a copy of Sidebotham - they seem not to have ended my university library access to their law database.

As an aside I see that Leeds City Council are appealing the Broadley case on Council Tax liability which will cause major issues if they win (I can't see how they could though)

Craig / lgfa92

Bill

9:25 AM, 8th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Just had this situation. I sent in a copy of the tenancy agreement and received a credit for the council tax charged to me on the last day of the tenancy. Utilities are even worse. Accepted tenants reading taken 3 days before end of tenancy. E-on charged me from this date even when I provided meter readings on the day of possession. Said I did not provide photo's of the meter reading, nor did the tenant, but seems that was ok. All readings were taken and logged by concierge but this made no difference to them. Short of going to the ombudsman I an stuck with the tenants bill.

AP

9:58 AM, 8th October 2016, About 8 years ago

This happens every time and is so annoying! All my AST's end at midnight and I usually do the check out the following morning. A tenant has just moved out from my property into another in the area. The day they moved out was the day they moved into the other property - however they spent all day moving between the two properties so surely it makes sense they are charged council tax for two properties for that one day as they are legally occupying the two!

10:01 AM, 8th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "A P" at "08/10/2016 - 09:58":

Certainly nothing to stop someone being liable for the Council Tax charge on two properties at the same time – it’s a common enough occurrence.

Craig /lgfa92

AP

10:41 AM, 8th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "CouncilTaxGuy " at "08/10/2016 - 10:01":

Unfortunately try explaining that to a call centre operative at the council who sticks to the script of - 'our policy is the landlord is responsible for the council tax on the day of the move out'! I've managed to get them to see sense after sending in AST's and writing emails in the past... but in the end, that takes more than £5 worth of my time so it's not worth the hassle!

10:51 AM, 8th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "A P" at "08/10/2016 - 10:41":

To be fair to the call centre staff they're generally not trained in Council Tax above the bare basics and are forced to stick to specific scripts (and monitored that they do). Most council call centres have the staff covering half a dozen or more different subject areas (cost cutting).

Craig / lgfa92

TheMaluka

13:24 PM, 8th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "A P" at "08/10/2016 - 10:41":

It most definitely is worth the hassle, councils get away with too much already as do tenants. For the sake of landlords everywhere stick to your guns and don't pay for the last day. It's easy to avoid provided your tenancy agreement is correct.

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