UK Landlord Forum / Life

A couple of friends are now selling their one BTL.The last straw was the stasi at the council demanding they pay the previous tenants ct arrears.When they first told me,I said they were trying it on,write a stiff letter and forget it.Now however they have been told that as they let the lease go onto periodic,the tenant is not liable.I always opt for periodic,and had no idea that it changed things.Does this mean then that other terms in the lease,such as utilities,are affected? 

Sounds like billhooks to me. Citizens Advice - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/council-tax/council-tax/ - give a hierarchy of who the liable person for Council Tax is:

The hierarchy of liability is:
1.a resident owner-occupier who owns either the leasehold or freehold of all or part of the property
2.a resident tenant
3.a resident who lives in the property and who is a licensee. This means that they are not a tenant, but have permission to stay there
4.any resident living in the property, for example, a squatter
5.an owner of the property where no one is resident.

I suppose it might be harder to prove that the tenants were resident in the absence of a fixed tenancy agreement, but it still wouldn't be that tricky. The only contentious period might be where tenants have left without giving the required month's notice.

Quote from: heavykarma on September 05, 2019, 09:35:43 AMDoes this mean then that other terms in the lease,such as utilities,are affected?

If confirmed, you never know... but it needs validating in the first instance... was this idle chit-chat or supposition from a Council droid who saw some wool lying around and thought they'd try to pull it over someone's eyes for fun... or is it backed-up by some kind of... policy, law or generally accepted tenet? Judge Judy might shout "that's hearsay" or "you can't tell me what someone said" or something in a situation like this.

Thank you for this,I will pass it on to them.They can prove when she left,having given them notice,and an agent did a check-out. She did not owe rent.They don't think the council has made any real effort to contact the tenant since she moved out.They are paying for the void period,no argument about that.
Never knew squatters had to pay,learn something new every day.