This is an interesting decision of the Valuation Tribunal on the effect of the occupation by property guardians of a commercial building. Some (though not all) property guardian companies have made a sales feature of the alleged freedom from non-domestic...
Rather too certain to be uncertain
Leeds City Council v Broadley [2016] EWCA Civ 1213 This was Leeds' second appeal of a Valuation Tribunal decision on council tax liability. We covered the first High Court appeal here. Full disclosure, I acted for the intervener in this second appeal, the...
Council tax, periodic tenancies, and the end of L&T law avoided
We've seen the issue of who is liable for Council Tax when a tenant has left a property before the end of a periodic tenancy arise before. Here, the Upper Tribunal decided that a statutory periodic monthly tenancy following a 6 month fixed term did not...
Misc on taxes – council and bedroom
Some notes on council tax liability and bedroom tax Upper Tribunal cases. Council tax - how do you go about setting aside and/or appealing a council tax liability order? It turns out to be far from straightforward (you might already have known this. I...
Just bonkers, absolutely bonkers
Just what did Sandwell think they were doing? They set a minimum residence requirement of two years (why two you might ask) for their local council tax reduction scheme and thought that would be acceptable. They did so on the basis that they were concerned...
Missing tenants and missing sentences: Council tax and periodic tenancies
Further to my post here on council tax liability for statutory periodic tenancies, I have heard about another Valuation Tribunal case, this time involving a contractual periodic tenancy, and also oddly involving this blog. The issue was council tax liability...
Shorthold tenancies and council tax liability
If a tenant on a statutory periodic tenancy stops living in the property, but the tenancy is not ended, who is liable for the Council Tax? CT v Horsham District Council (HB) [2013] UKUT 617 (AAC) This was an appeal to the Upper Tribunal from the benefits...
There’s no place like HMO
Shah v Croydon LBC [2013] EWHC 3657 (Admin) [Not on Bailii yet. Seen full transcript of judgment] An appeal by way of case stated from a Magistrates Court decision that a property owned by Mr Shah was an HMO and that Mr S was therefore liable for some 14...
A taxing question
Macattram v Camden London Borough Council (2012) QBD (Admin) On Lawtel but no on BAILII This is an interesting little problem involving the payment of Council Tax. The landlord had rented the property to the Council. They had used it to house homeless...
When does a houseboat become a “hereditament”?
In Reeves v Northrop [2012] EWHC 415 Admin, this precise question arose in the context of an appeal by the valuation officer (Reeves) against a decision of the Valuation Tribunal. It's a little off the beaten track for us (a council tax appeal) but, at its...
A (council) taxing matter
Malik v LB Tower Hamlets [2010] EWHC 2921 (Admin) And so, another council tax/HMO appeal finds its way to the High Court. For those of you wondering why you've suddenly seen more of these in the last year or so, there are two answers: (a) a suddent and...
HMOs and Council Tax
Goremsandu, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Harrow [2010] EWHC 1873 (Admin) As many of you will know the definition of an HMO for the purposes of Council Tax is totally different from that used in the Housing Act 2004 (and in relation to...