Council Tax payments after S21

Landlord Discussion
1

I served a S21 before the May 1 deadline requiring tenant to leave by July 1. The Council (London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham) apparently told the tenant not to leave before a possession order is obtained as if they did they were making themselves intentionally homeless. As a result tenant still living in Flat.

At some cost I am therefore applying for a possession order but in the meantime who is responsible for the Council Tax? And what should I do if the tenant continues to pay rent? Should I return it? Everything I’ve learned from this Forum suggests it could still be some time before he leaves.

Thanks

2

This is pretty standard. You should always expect to have to get a court order and then bailiffs to enforce it. In most areas this will take many months. You have until the end of this month to apply to the court. After that, the option to use your s21 notice expires.

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3

Thanks David.
What is your advice on what I should do about payment of Council Tax and any further rent payments?

4

The tenancy continues as normal until the court says otherwise. Tenant responsibilities and liabilities the same as before, yours also.

Let the tenant know that you intend to reclaim the court costs from them.

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5

What has given you the impression that council tax, utilities and rent are not due payment as normal by the tenant?

Any debts accrued by the tenants up until you receive the keys back or right of possession/ Bailiffs eviction action are the tenants responsibility to pay. If they are owed to you I.E. unpaid rent then persue via MCOL and CCJ issuance.

Best

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6

Thanks everyone. I didn’t want to do anything that would risk invalidating the S21. I was concerned that by continuing to accept monthly rent payments after the date at which the tenancy was supposed to have ended I might be doing this. Clearly this fear was misplaced.

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7

Take legal advice. The council advising a tenant to stay put is illegal and a LL has successfully sued for this.

8

@A_Z

Would be really interested to know the case details if you can share

Best

9

BUT i bet the council said it verbally and not in written form? how to prove it happened?

10

This was a local govt ombudsman case, but its its unlikely to be repeated as Councils are now very careful to couch their comments as advice on the legal position, rather than demands.

11

Going against housing Ombudsman ruling (Canterbury) doesnt mean councils have done anything illegal tho.

This is another area landlord associations should all write to the new PM saying it needs to be illegal to Councils to act that way. It’s simply unfair that tenants who can afford to pay have reduced choice and are blocked from renting properties by Councils trying to avoid or delay their responsibilities to house the homeless. And higher costs for LL (inevitable some of those staying beyond a notice dates will be in arrears) = higher costs overall for tenants.

(The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) carried out research in 2016 which found that 49% of tenants who have been served with a section 21 notice by their private landlord say they have been told to ignore it by their local council… with pressure on LA budgets i expect it’s only got worse)