Broadway manages a number of supported (low support with off site Support Workers) housing schemes which include houses of multiple occupation. Our rent team has been informed that because the houses have multiple occupation it is the landlords responsibility to pay the council tax. They are looking for confirmation that the council tax can therefore be added to the rent and claimed by the tenant as housing benefit.

I have had a look through the CPAG handbook and while this appears to be the case I have been unable to find the regulations that covers this. Can anyone provide this information?

Thu 06-Aug-09 11:57 AM by nevip

Apart form old Rent Act tenancies and the very limited powers of rent assessment committees under The Housing Act 1988 landlords are pretty much free to set whatever rent levels they see fit. It is quite common for Landlords liable to pay the council tax to pass the charge on to the tenant in the form of rent without specifying so and just stating the total rent figure in the tenancy agreement.

Whether Housing Benefit will cover the full rent because of rent officer referrals/LHA is a different matter altogether. I don’t know if LA’s routinely try to ‘look behind’ HIMO tenancies to determine whether rent figures include other charges but I would presume this would be difficult because how would they disprove the landlord’s assertion that the rent figure is just that: rent.

There was clarification issued on this several years ago to LA., which advised that it was correct to include landlord liability in HIMO situations and even allowed an adjustment to be made late if the amount of council tax due for new financial year was not available at the time of rent reviews and the need to advise tenants in advance of this.
I have had to challenge a decision not to allow the council tax via the rent and housing benefit and my initial task is to get the council tax officers to change the decision to make the 3 tenants responsible individually (which results in 3 times the council tax due).
I will then have to go back to the HB section to confirm landlord responsibility and get the decision revised (hopefully).
We do not (never have) hidden this liability - it is shown on our breakdown of charges.
I will look to see if I still have the information provided to LA and if I find it will post it to help any representations you may make.
We deal with around 15 LA's and this has only just arisen as a problem.

Tue 08-Sep-09 11:48 AM by jimt

Any charge made by the landlord to cover council tax should be treated as rent and covered by HB. This is confirmed in para.s 4.160 & 4.161 of the HB Guidance Manual which states

Increase in rent to cover Council Tax
4.160 Some tenants, such as boarders, those living in homes in multiple occupation and persons under 18, are not liable for Council Tax but their rent may be increased to cover part or all of the landlord’s own Council Tax liability.
4.161 Treat this increase as rent and eligible for HB.

The above is in the 'Eligible Rent' section of the HBGM which is at
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/hbgm-a4-eligible-rent.pdf

If you need the full HBGM it's at
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/local-authority-staff/housing-benefit/claims-processing/operational-manuals/housing-benefit-guidance/

It shouldn't matter wether the landlord has classed the council tax charge as rent or as a service charge on the lease.

Thanks for that....I can stop looking! And an excellent explaination of the eligibility for housing benefit, how clear can it be.