Question

Ending a Tenancy (England) | Tenant Moves Out (England) | Tenant Obligations (England)

Tenancy ended but tenants belongings left. Council tax liability?

19 Jul 2018 | 1 comment

We have a property and were granted possession by the court bailiff but the tenant left her whole household belongings in the property for another 2 months before collecting them as she kept changing the date of pick-up. This meant the property could not be re-let or any works could be reasonably carried out.

I think we could charge storage costs between Bailiff & belongings removed but the landlord wants to charge a similar daily amount to what the rent was which I am unsure about.
Also who is liable for the council tax for the period between Bailiff & belongings removed?

Answer

1 Comment

  1. guildy

    We don’t see any problem in at least starting by charging a daily rate based upon the rent for storage. That is the loss suffered by the landlord and you can always reduce as a barganing chip.

    When the bailiff attends, the tenancy is fully ended. In order for the tenant to be liable they must be either ‘resident’ as sole or main home (which they weren’t) or, have a tenancy or licence to occupy (which they didn’t because the bailiff ended the tenancy). As such, we think the landlord is liable.

    Our tenancy agreements have a clause about being able to bill the tenant if the landlord becomes liable through some breach of the tenant. Such a clause may assist in this case and allow the cost of council tax to be added to the storage cost.

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