DHP wanting names and addresses of other tenants before issuing payment

Liability for council tax is established by s6 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. It is for the local authority, based on the factual specifics of the situation, to determine liability.

Liability cannot be contractually passed on or assigned to another person - although a contract could require payment of an amount equivalent to council tax amount.

I’m unsure from you message what your the exact living arrangement is. It appears it may be the case your client is a lodger residing with a resident landlord? If that is the case the the landlord is liable for council tax and no amount of signed declarations will alter that.

I will find out if the couple that the client sublets from is her landlord.

Agreed that more information is needed. Are Mr X and Mrs X the owners of the property or are they themselves tenants and are subletting to your client?

If it is a subletting agreement then maybe the person the LA have recorded as being liable is the owner of the property? If the property is an HMO then they will still be liable for the council tax, although sometimes I’ve seen this cost passed on down in the rent (and in your case perhaps the tenants passed it down in the sub-tenancy).

If it is a subletting agreement then I guess one thing that you need to establish is whether this is with the consent of the owner of the property who granted the original tenancy.

The client got the room via SpareRoom- and the contract she signed was as a subletting agreement with the named parties (Mr X & Mrs X) who she pays rent to, who are tenants.  The client doesn’t know who the landlord is.

The client is afraid of speaking to the tenants as she took the room on the basis that she was working.

The letter from the Council says:

The named parties Mr X & Mrs X on the provided Sub lease agreement differs to the named parties on our records. The named people are not registered or shown to have liability for Council Tax at the address stated on the Subletting agreement.
Please provide evidence to confirm Mr X & Mrs X have a liability to pay Council Tax.

If the client (who is mentally unwell) refuses to speak to the tenants, what can she do?

Assuming the Council have already determined that your client is eligible for HB, I honestly cant see how any of the Council’s questions have any relevance.

I don’t think the question of the primary landlord’s permission is particlularly relevant either given what Mr Deputy Commissioner (as then was) Whybrow QC held in CH/2659/2006.

Its too detailed to write out all the arguments here so I have attached a copy of the decision, although paragaph 22 is especially pertinent

22. Although I have much sympathy with the difficult task faced by the tribunal in this case and appreciate that the most relevant legal authorities were not cited to it, I accept the submission of behalf of the claimant, and agree with the view expressed by the Commissioner in granting leave, that the tribunal erred in law by misdirecting itself that there could be no valid agreement creating a liability to make payments where the grantor had no power to let the property. Bruton and Kay establish that a party who does not have an interest in land such as to enable him to grant a leasehold estate or tenancy in favour of another party can nevertheless enter into a tenancy agreement with another party which is valid and effective between the parties to the agreement, albeit that the agreement will not be effective to create an interest or estate in land binding on third parties, including the registered owner of the relevant land. Whilst Bruton and Kay were concerned with cases where the landlord could not create an estate because he was only a licensee of the owner of the legal interest, in my judgement the principle in those cases apply equally to circumstances, as found by the tribunal in this case, where MI had no authority from the registered owner to let the premises. Thus, assuming that there was an otherwise valid agreement between MI and the claimants, such an agreement would be as binding and effective as between these parties, notwithstanding it could not confer on the claimants an interest or estate binding A.  The tribunal in holding otherwise erred in law

So it appears that the issue is the information submitted as part of the DHP application is at odds with the information held on the council tax records.

This could be because the held on the council tax records is incorrect. Your client can’t comment on that as she doesn’t know what information is held on council tax records.

It’s not you client, nor the landlords, job to determine liability for council tax- it’s the local authorities under Local Government Finance Act 1992 based on the facts available to them. If the have reason to believe the information held on the council tax records is incorrect they could send out a council tax inquiry form to the address asking for details of the residence. Asking for signed declarations from individuals as to their liability is entirely inappropriate.