Question

Council Tax (England) | Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) (England)

Council Tax Liability

15 Jun 2020 | 1 comment

Could you tell me please who is liable for paying the council tax on a 5 bed HMO where the Tenants (Rolls Royce) are on a joint and several AST Agreement, not on individual agreements, the Landlord or the Tenants?”

The Tenants pay the same amount of rent, the contract is for the named people only, they are all jointly responsible if anyone leaves the property.

I have received conflicting information, being told as the property is a HMO (it doesn’t matter whether the Tenants are on a joint contract or individual contracts), it is the Landlord’s responsibility and on the other hand, because the Tenants are on one whole contract as opposed to single contracts it is the Tenants’ responsibility?

Thanks.

Answer

1 Comment

  1. Imported

    18/10/2019 2:08 pm
    The general rule is that if it’s a single joint and several tenancy, the tenants are liable. The reason for the confusion is that the landlord can be held liable for this type of tenancy if the property has been “adapted” for multiple tenants (such as locks on bedroom doors for example). However, the “adapted” rule is rarely enforced by a local authority because it would require an inspection and decision as to whether the modifications trigger the landlords being liable.

    Please see this article for full details: https://www.landlordsguild.com/council-tax-adaptation-of-property/

    guildy

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