Who is responsible for council tax?
Council tax legislation sets out a hierarchy of people who are responsible for council tax which can be read here.
The first person in the hierarchy list for the period in question is responsible for paying the council tax for that period. Put simply, in the case of a private rented sector property the hierarchy is:
- Resident tenant
- Non-resident tenant if they have a tenancy agreement granted for a term of 6 months or more (this would only apply to tenants on non PRT leases as a PRT tenancy can’t be granted for a fixed term)
- Property owner
So, if a property is occupied by a resident tenant then the council should charge the tenant for the council tax. If the property is unoccupied and not let on a tenancy granted for a term of 6 months or more then the council should charge the property owner.
“Resident” is defined as an individual who has attained the age of 18 years and has their sole or main residence in the dwelling.
There is one notable exception to this list which applies to properties where the tenant has a lease for only part of the property, such as with a “room only” let. In this situation the property owner is responsible for the council tax bills. This is set out in legislation here.
The above legislation would override anything agreed between the parties in the tenancy agreement.
The hierarchy legislation can mean that at the end of a PRT tenancy, if the tenant has abandoned or vacated before the agreement has been formally ended by the landlord/tenant notice/eviction procedure, the council will regard the owner as responsible for the council tax from the date the tenant vacates. If the same situation arose on a short assured tenancy the non-resident tenant would be responsible for the council tax until the tenancy was officially ended. SAL has contacted the government asking for this legislation to be changed to make tenants on a PRT responsible for the council tax throughout the tenancy, even during periods when they are not resident in the property.
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