Not paying council tax

[pfidelus]

I had some tenants but they left after 6 months and did not pay council tax bill. Baillifs letters have been issued and I think they have been taken to court. What next? I am staying currently at the property and I am a little concerned about the situation. What next - will the bailiffs visit, will there be further action, will I be responsible for the previous tenants debt or there is nothing to worry about? Your advise will be very helfull. I am curious what does the council do in this situtations. The previous tenants did not pay electricity and gas as well. Regards Peter.

[Tax Accountant]

I had some tenants but they left after 6 months and did not pay council tax bill. Baillifs letters have been issued and I think they have been taken to court. What next? I am staying currently at the property and I am a little concerned about the situation. What next - will the bailiffs visit, will there be further action, will I be responsible for the previous tenants debt or there is nothing to worry about? Your advise will be very helfull. I am curious what does the council do in this situtations. The previous tenants did not pay electricity and gas as well. Regards Peter.

Previous tenants' liabilities for Council Tax, Electricity, Gas etc is not your concern.

You may be required to show, by way of tenancy agreements etc, that other people occupied the property during those periods.

I would return the letters addressed to these other people and mark them ''No longer here - return to sender'' or something to that effect. If you know where they have moved, you could give their address to the varios authorities.

I, as a landlord, now make it a policy not to refund any deposits to tenants unless they have produced proofs that all utility bills have been settled. This would help in not getting your property tainted as a ''bad address''.

Ramnik

[MrShed]

You bring up an interesting point Karongo. I, personally, do not see any "right", per se, of demanding to see proof of payment of bills prior to refunding the deposit - the two items have no real relation. Do not get me wrong, I can understand why landlords do it, and it is a valid argument. But as you have said, previous tenants bills are their responsibility, and tied to their names, so surely it is their business if they pay them or not? Of course, this situation is completely changed if the bills are in the LLs name, but of course presumably you would know in this situation if they have been paid or not :p

Oh and by the way Karongo, as you aren't in rental property bit much, happy christmas :)

[Tax Accountant]

You bring up an interesting point Karongo. I, personally, do not see any "right", per se, of demanding to see proof of payment of bills prior to refunding the deposit - the two items have no real relation. Do not get me wrong, I can understand why landlords do it, and it is a valid argument. But as you have said, previous tenants bills are their responsibility, and tied to their names, so surely it is their business if they pay them or not? Of course, this situation is completely changed if the bills are in the LLs name, but of course presumably you would know in this situation if they have been paid or not :p

Oh and by the way Karongo, as you aren't in rental property bit much, happy christmas :)
Hello Mr Shed,

If I am not mistaken, most lease agreements specifically provide that the tenant is responsible for payment of utility bills. Non-payment would therefore be a breach of the tenants covenants. I would therefore deem that a landlord would be in his rights to ensure that all bills are paid before proceeding to refund the deposit.

Since you raise the point, this should be specifically included in the tenancy agreement to avoid any doubts.

Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you as well Mr Shed.

Ramnik

[MrShed]

Sorry maybe should have made my point a bit clearer. Not so much about the "right" to do it or not, or at least not in the legal sense. Simply put, their debts are their responsibility and their business, so why withhold the deposit under circumstances that are basically none of the landlords business, and certainly nothing to do with the deposit? I, for one, have in fact used my returned deposit to actually pay for the final utility bills! And, it has at least once taken well over 2 months to actually receive the final utility bill from the utility company, never mind pay it....would you think it reasonable to withhold the deposit for this entire length of time? I think not.

[Tax Accountant]

Sorry maybe should have made my point a bit clearer. Not so much about the "right" to do it or not, or at least not in the legal sense. Simply put, their debts are their responsibility and their business, so why withhold the deposit under circumstances that are basically none of the landlords business, and certainly nothing to do with the deposit? I, for one, have in fact used my returned deposit to actually pay for the final utility bills! And, it has at least once taken well over 2 months to actually receive the final utility bill from the utility company, never mind pay it....would you think it reasonable to withhold the deposit for this entire length of time? I think not.
Mr Shed, it is not necessarily the paying of it which is important as is the registering for it, notification of final readings and notification of forwarding address to send the final bills.

There are so many tanants these days who don't even bother to register for the utilities let alone paying for it. And before you know it, they have disappeared.

Any persistent abuse for a particular property will result in the utilities companies withholding provision of services or at least require fitting of prepayment meters etc. It is important for a landlord to ensure that his property is not tainted otherwise this may affect his/her ability to attract new responsible tenants in the future.

This is the main reason that it is important for a landlord to ensure, within reason, that irresponsible tenants are not allowed to use the landlord's property for their devious reasons.

Ramnik.