Landlord Paying Council Tax??

You need to discuss this with your landlord.

Normally the tenant is responsible for their own council tax affairs, and their own bills too, of course. If a landlord advertises the place at "£X per month including bills and council tax", I would take that to mean either that you pay him £X and he deals with all the utility companies and the coucil, or else that you pay all the bills yourself, including council tax, and if they add up to £Y, then you pay your landlord £(X-Y). Or some mix of the two could apply, e.g. you pay for some of the above and he pays for the others.

I would just take him at his word. If he says the Council Tax is included then it is.

It is slightly possible he has told the Council that the building is occupied by students so there will be no Council Tax due. If this is the case you are doing him and yourself no favours by announcing your arrival to the Council.

I'm not sure this is a good attitude to take. I'm pretty sure that the OP will be liable to the council for the council tax even if the OP's landlord has contracted with the OP to pay it on the OP's behalf. So the OP could be left having to pay the council and then sue the landlord to recover the money, possibly months or even years after he's left the property.

From the OP's POV I'd say the safest option is to agree with the landload that the OP will pay and then deduct it from the rent. That way the OP knows his liability to the council has been discharged and he also never has to chase the landlord for money.

Other bills are, I think, the responsibility of the person the bill is addressed to. So if gas, electric etc are in the landlord's name then I don't think the OP has anything to worry about and he is probably best leaving the landlord to pay.

Tim.

IANAL

Have you got the original ad? And a copy of your tenancy?

(a) this could be fraud

(b) why should normal taxpayers aid and abet those who don't pay when they should? Such people could be either helping to pay for extra services or to reduce the Council Tax bill.

Rob Graham

Just phone the council and find out if any council tax owed. Often the LL pays if he is living on the premises (though presumably he is not living in your studio flat..). Also if the LL pays the bills maybe he can offset it against tax...? Therefore it could be more tax efficient to include all bills in the rent.

If your council telephone customer service is anything like mine you will get a maze of menus which lead you to some voice-recognition software which will automatically send you a leaflet (which you didn't want andn any case is the wrong one).

Therefore I suggest to write to the council and ask.