Who pays the Council tax? Me or landlord?

It depends for a house in multiple occupation, then its the LL.
They can simply increase your rent though .

Not sure the council will issue two different bills for the same property.

Go and talk to Shelter or CAB.

This.

On second point, since its landlord technically liable for CT think they would use their income as basis for any potential reductions - dont kow for sure though. Worth looking into as landlord may be able to charge you lower rent.

Think you are being unrealistic if you expect the LL to lower the rent.
Example they expect £100 a week for a 2 bed flat.

They rent to 2 students who pay CT bill. LL gets £100 a week

LL rents to 2 different people so its a house in mo. LL now has to pay CT.
LL will now chnage the rent to be £100 + CT for that individual.

You misunderstood.

I am assuming the LL passes CT cost onto tenants.

But if possible for OP's low income to reduce the CT bill, then s/he can say LL should reduce their rent by the amount of the reduction.

The LL should agree to this because the LL will still end up with the same amount of cash at the end of the month regardless, and lower rent means OP will be more likely to make payments.

The tenant will end up paying more and the LL will not have to pay.

I'm looking at a new place, 2 bed house with a tenant already living there. She said she's registered recently to pay Council tax and the live out landlord also said I had to pay it.

However, we have separate tenancy agreements, I contacted the Council and they said it's an HMO (house under Multiple occupation) so the landlord should be paying. If the landlord excludes the council tax in the contract am I still liable to pay?

Also, I'm applying for a council tax reduction because I'm on a low income. Can my new housemate find out about this or do we get separate bills (split in half?)

Thanks

It depends for a house in multiple occupation, then its the LL.They can simply increase your rent though .

LLs cant simply choose to alter the rent for no reason.

He does have a reason. the OP starts off with he is looking at a new place so not sure if he has signed yet.

Not sure what the situation is for where one of the clauses is inneffective, but he cna look towards amending or terminating it. id have to see the tenancy. There is no way the LL if he is liable will want to pay, so he will just get a new tenant if he can and the OP isnt interested in paying.

Yes, a landlord can attempt to negotiate a new rent before a tenancy has commenced. However, I'm assuming the OP isn't dumb enough to raise this before signing the tenancy agreement with a LL. Once the tenancy is signed, rent can't be altered in the fixed term and it would need a s13 notice after that, which can be challenged.


Again, if it is silent on the issue then OP would be silly to raise this imo prior to signing. Once the tenancy begins, LL is bound by the terms of the tenancy and can not amend or terminate them. At that point the landlord is stuck with paying whether he likes it or not as a tenant can't be evicted before the end of the fixed term.

As I stated, doing this will probably result in a s21 notice (ie. eviction) at the earliest opportunity - so weigh up how much saving on that council tax means to you.

I'd have to see the agreement. If you have some case law indicating what happens where the tenant agrees to take on the obligation v it automatically falling on the LL for mo houses, then feel free to reference it.

My understanding is that the heriearchy of who pays is just a fallback position rather than it being absolute. Quite happy to accept its otherwise if you have a reference. Not invested enough to look it up.

I'm looking at a new place, 2 bed house with a tenant already living there. She said she's registered recently to pay Council tax and the live out landlord also said I had to pay it.

However, we have separate tenancy agreements, I contacted the Council and they said it's an HMO (house under Multiple occupation) so the landlord should be paying. If the landlord excludes the council tax in the contract am I still liable to pay?

Also, I'm applying for a council tax reduction because I'm on a low income. Can my new housemate find out about this or do we get separate bills (split in half?)

Thanks

If there is a clause in the agreement stating that the tenant is responsible for council tax then it is fairly obvious what happens. Legislation means LL is liable to council and T is liable to LL under contract. Statute makes LL liable for council tax, nothing either party agrees can overrule statute.

At no point have I suggested that, in the presence of such a term, a tenant would not need to pay the council tax.

Nope im fine with the latter bit.
Im more from a practical angle that when the LL finds out they are liable, then they will seek to get that money back, hence needing to look at the agreement as to what his rights to terminate are.

Well, if the agreement is silent then LL has no avenue to recover those costs from T. Why do you think he would be able to?

Whatever the agreement says about his right to terminate is more or less irrelevant. The procedure to end a tenancy is governed by statute. The only caveat would be a break clause; but most of those are so poorly drafted as to fall foul of consumer/unfair terms legislation.