council tax vs Tier1 extension

[abc111]

Hi,

I am planning to apply for tier 1 extension in December 2011. I have recently moved into a property with a private land lord and pay rent in his account. He has not advised me about setting with council for council tax. If I do not contact council then they will not know ........should I set up a council tax as HO might ask for it or council tax does not matter when making tier 1 extension applications????

Thanks for replying....

[mulderpf]

This might come back to bite you later on. Read your tenancy agreement to see who is responsible for this. If your tenancy agreement doesn't explicitly say, then it is more than likely your responsibility to pay this (as it is firstly the responsibility of the occupier of a property to pay unless stated otherwise).

While they may not know who you are right now, once your landlord finds out about the unpaid council tax, he can then let the council know who actually occupied the property and the council can start proceedings against you. And so on and so on...and it may very well not affect you when extending, but what about later down the line when you want to apply for ILR?

Just pay it...

[tknayak]

This might come back to bite you later on. Read your tenancy agreement to see who is responsible for this. If your tenancy agreement doesn't explicitly say, then it is more than likely your responsibility to pay this (as it is firstly the responsibility of the occupier of a property to pay unless stated otherwise).

While they may not know who you are right now, once your landlord finds out about the unpaid council tax, he can then let the council know who actually occupied the property and the council can start proceedings against you. And so on and so on...and it may very well not affect you when extending, but what about later down the line when you want to apply for ILR?

Just pay it...

Very polite reply mulderpf.
Generally the responsibility of paying the council tax belongs to the tenant and not the landlord. In certain specific cases, such as when the landlord offers room sharing, then he prefers to pay the council tax rather than the tenant.

It is always the tenant's responsibility to find out details of council tax, utility bills etc. and proactively pay it. If a tenant leaves the house after tenancy without paying the council tax, then the landlord is not responsible to pay, the council will track the person who is supposed to pay the tax. Hence as advised by mulderpf, you should find out and try and pay it. It is not because of the immigration reasons, but because legally you are supposed to pay it.

Let us make the place where we intend to settle, an ideal place to live.

[MPI]

well I don't agree with these remarks. If you check current rental properties on the market , you could see huge number of all inclusive offers by property owners . Reason be market is highly competitive and owners try to attact potential tennants . Therefore if it's clearly stated in the agreement that coucil tax is included in the rent , then there is no responsibility on tennants whatsoever.

I have never heard or read a single case in extensions or ILR where council taxes are questioned or required, so don't think above information is accurate.

[tknayak]

well I don't agree with these remarks. If you check current rental properties on the market , you could see huge number of all inclusive offers by property owners . Reason be market is highly competitive and owners try to attact potential tennants . Therefore if it's clearly stated in the agreement that coucil tax is included in the rent , then there is no responsibility on tennants whatsoever.

I have never heard or read a single case in extensions or ILR where council taxes are questioned or required, so don't think above information is accurate.

Agreed. If the tenancy agreement says that the council tax is included in the rent or the council tax is paid by the landlord, then there should not be any problem at all.

However, if nothing is said about the council tax in the agreement, then it is the sole responsibility of the tenant to find the details and pay the tax. The tenant has to deal with this as he would do for any other utility.

I have also not seen any impact of not paying council tax with ILR. But one should not avail council tax benefit if his visa says "No recourse to public fund". This will disqualify you for ILR.

[mulderpf]

well I don't agree with these remarks. If you check current rental properties on the market , you could see huge number of all inclusive offers by property owners . Reason be market is highly competitive and owners try to attact potential tennants . Therefore if it's clearly stated in the agreement that coucil tax is included in the rent , then there is no responsibility on tennants whatsoever.

I have never heard or read a single case in extensions or ILR where council taxes are questioned or required, so don't think above information is accurate.

1. Most lease agreements where you lease the entire house, the tenant is responsible for the council tax. It is up to the OCCUPIER, not the owner to find out who is responsible. If it is not stated in the lease, the occupier is responsible. If it is leasing a room, you are more than likely not responsible for the council tax (if it is directly from a landlord, house shares usually split the council tax, but it's still up to the tenants, not the owner).
2. The criminality element was only brought in recently with regards to settlement and at the rate that it's going now, it might end up being toughened up even more. Next year they might introduce credit checking applicants - we never know.

The bottom line is - do the right thing for the right reasons. Simply doing something because it may interfere with your settlement application is not the right way to go about things - as tknayak said - make the place you want to settle, an ideal place - by not paying council tax you are placing a burden on others.

[mulderpf]

From Who has to pay council tax:

Usually, the person living in a property will be the liable person, but sometimes it will be the owner of the property who will be liable to pay.

...

The hierarchy of liability is:
* a resident owner-occupier who owns either the leasehold or freehold of all or part of the property
* a resident tenant
* 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
any resident living in the property, for example, a squatter
* an owner of the property where no one is resident.

In this case the owner is not resident at the property, so you go down the ladder you end up with the tenant being the liable person.