Landlord issues

[lilypoppet]

Hello I've moved into a house for three months or longer as a casual arrangement with the house owner. He wants me to pay the council tax to him but keep the council tax in his wife's name. I am worried this could affect my credit rating and actually be illegal. Any advice?

Bit confused - is he still living there?

If yes, then you are a lodger and it doesnt really matter. Get on the electoral roll

If no, you are a tenant and five gets you ten he isnt declaring income, insuring it , telling any mortgage company and so on.

Only me and my family live there. Could we be liable for any illegal practice?

Is he doing it for school application? You won't be able to use it as Id or proof of address, Is That an issue for you? Is he claiming single adult discount elsewhere I wonder

You arent doing anything wrong - but he may be.

I bet he hasnt told anyone he is renting it out. Casual or not, you have a tenancy and all the associated right, and he has the obligations. Go read the ' how to rent' leaflet on gov.uk.

Gas safe? Smoke alarms? Deposit protected?

Yes. Your name needs to be on the council tax bill. Something odd here.

I used to work in Council Tax. The person who lives in a property has the bill in their names. This would raise a number of flags:
Are they claiming benefits as 2 households when they live as one?
Do they have permission to lease the property?

If you pay them the money and they don't pay the Council you will pay twice. The council don't care that you had a private arrangement, you are liable as the occupant of the premises and they want their money.

Thanks I'm working really hard to get somewhere more permanent

Hello he has been charging me £140 a month and I've checked the council website and I'm in price band c and it's actually £89 a month if I was paying the council direct. Now I don't know what to do

Are you sure it's only £89?! That seems incredibly cheap? Round here Band B us he lowest bracket and it's around £125 a month?

Do you have a tenancy agreement?
What you should be doing is calling the council to advise you live there and they will bill you.

I live in West Sussex and it says on their website that price band c is £1,073.66. ive calculated that as £89.47 a month paying for the year.

I have a tenancy agreement but it's just a paper hr got from WH smith's.

Council tax is calculated over 10 months not 12 so your council tax per month is approx 108 pounds.

It all sounds dodgy. I would change the council tax into your name. I hope you have proof that you paid him the money.

Just to update everyone. Turns out he was overcharging us. He apologized and claimed he'd made a mistake. Now we've found a new place and have passed the credit checks and affordability checks. It's even less rent! We move in next week. Thanks for the support.

Good news , thanks for update and good luck in your new home.

Has he given you a refund?

Well Tupperware we deducted the overpayment from what we owed him, but it had always been an unsatisfactory arrangement.