The following list (referred to as the “hierarchy of liability”) is used to work out who is liable. The person appearing nearest the top of the list is the liable person. If more than one person appears at the same level (i.e joint owners or tenants), they will all be “jointly and severally liable” (explained below).
The hierarchy or liability is as follows:
- A freehold owner/occupier living in the property
- A leasehold owner/occupier living in the property
- A Tenant living in the property
- A person living in the property who is a licensee (not a tenant, but has permission to stay there)
- Any person living in the property (this includes people living in the property with or without permission of the owner)
- An owner of the property, where the property is unoccupied
When checking who is liable, we will start from the top of the list. If no one occupying the property meets that description, we moved down to the next level, and so on until someone meets the description. The person (s) who meet this description will be liable. If no one is occupying the property, the owner of the property will be liable.
Joint and several liability
Where two or more people fall into the same category in the hierarchy, they are jointly and severally liable. This means they do not each pay their share of the bill, but they are jointly responsible for ensuring the bill is paid. If the bill is unpaid, we can pursue any of any number of the liable persons for payment.
If a liable person has a spouse who lives at the property, that person will be jointly and severally liable regardless of if they are at the same level in the hierarchy.
If someone is disregarded for the purposes of being a student or severely mentally impaired, they will be removed from the Council Tax Liability. Evidence must be provided.
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO’s)
If you have a property which is classes as a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO), then this may affect the way that you pay Council Tax.
Rules for Council Tax for HMO’s
For Council Tax purposes, an HMO is considered a property that was originally built, or later adapted for more than one household to live in.
It can also be a property where 1 or more people live, but are either:
- Only have written or verbal permission to live in part of the property
- Have written or verbal permission to live in the whole property but are not responsible for paying rent or a licence fee for it.
A property can become an HMO or stop being one depending on the rules in the rental agreement.
For example, if 2 people jointly rent a property for £1000 a month, then both are responsible for paying Council Tax.
However, if the property is later rented to 2 people who each pay £500 per month, but only have rights to live in some parts of the property, then it becomes an HMO.
So, then it will be the property owner’s responsibility to pay Council Tax.
Sometimes it is difficult for us to determine if a property is an HMO or not. The rental agreements might not match, or we might need more information from the tenants or landlords.
In these cases, we may need to ask you for further information, such as proof of rent paid, and contact other parties such as tenants.
Rented or Tenanted properties
We use the hierarchy of liability to work out who is liable to pay the Council Tax.
Under the hierarchy, a tenant who is living in the property is usually liable for the Council Tax. We may need to see a copy of the tenancy agreement.
If there is more than one tenant, then it’s possible that all the tenants will be made equally liable to pay the Council Tax.
If a tenant moves out of a property but they still have 6 months left or more on their tenancy, they are liable to pay the Council Tax until the tenancy ends.
This is unless the owner does something like:
- Change the locks
- Move into the property themselves
- Rent it to someone else
- Provide written confirmation to terminate the tenancy early
Please contact us if you require any further advice.