Help - council tax demand after we left unfurnished property

[Seymour1986]

My DH and I were renting a place up until June this year. Two years ago when we moved, we were looking for an unfurnished place but couldn't find one. We saw a decent furnished place and the agent said he thought the landlord would be flexible, so we asked the landlord if they would remove the lions share of the furnishings and rent it to us on a partially furnished basis. This was because we already owned our own bed, desk, tables etc. So, aside from a few small bits the landlord took everything away except her sofa which we asked to remain.

In May this year we completed on a property. As soon as we exchanged we gave our formal notice the the landlord (2-months annoyingly) but we also told her we would be moving out in advance to the contracted leave date due to an expedited completion. (complicated rationale behind this but it made more sense to do this). Anyway, we asked her if she was able to find a tenant early would she release us from the contract early and she said 'absolutely, of course'. She was very pleasant about it.

So we ended up moving on 29th June and we are now happily in our new place. The landlord found a new tenant who was able to move in after a month on 29th July, so we ended up only having to fork out one month's rent instead of the anticipated two, and everyone was happy.

Fast forward to now and we have received a demand for council tax for the month after we left and before the new tenant moved in. The council say we are liable unless we can prove the landlord knew we were moving out early. I have forwarded the council the emails and notice letter but they say that's no good unless the landlord can categorically say they approved us leaving on the date we did.

Meanwhile landlord is refusing to respond to my emails even though I have asked her to reply to me confirming she was aware.

I understood that we would not be liable for council tax anyway as the place was not fully furnished and therefore there is a month's grace on council tax.

Wherever I try and research this online I see conflicting information, and the woman at the council was passive aggressive and didn't want to help.

Can anyone confirm??

I work in Council Tax. You will be liable until the new tenant moved in. The discount a council will give on empty properties will depend on the council you are with. Most councils no longer give any discount for empty properties.

You are liable until your tenancy actually ended. Telling the landlord you are leaving early doesn’t change that.

And it wasn’t an unfurnished property anyway.

Just pay the bill.

You were liable until the expiry of your lease, which happened to only be end of July when new tenant moved in rather than August.

Problem solved! In fact I was right and we are not liable. I just spoke to a more helpful person at the Council. They said if a property is unfurnished then there is a month exemption after move out, and since the new tenant moved in at the end if that month there is no council tax due.

The problem was the landlady never changed the status of the property to unfurnished. I have provided a copy of the removal company invoice listing all the furniture which was removed including our bed, and the council say this proves it was unfurnished and therefore no council tax due.

Just in case anyone else has this issue.

Good news OP ...just as well you didn't take advice of the 'experts' ^^

Did I offer any wrong advice used? She is liable for the period but her property is in a council that gives a months exemption.

@NotTired's advice is correct. With a few exceptions, exemptions are decided at an authority level, and most no longer offer the exemption you have been granted.