Landlord claims that Tenant must pay Household Charge as its a lease condition?

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gerprem08

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Hi
My landlord is asking me to pay for a €100 "council tax".

I'm saying that this is the "household charge" & that this charge is his responsibility.

He is saying that in my lease agreement, there is a section stating that any future charges (water rates, levies, etc) are to be paid by me, the tenant.

Having had a look at the lease last night, there is a section saying just that, and that the charges can come from any "public authority".

Does this lease entitle him to ask me for the €100?

Thanks
 
I have never heard of a lease that has a section like this.

However you agreed to this by signing the lease.

I would tell your Landlord if he passes on the Household Charge that you will be leaving at the end of your lease period.

Let him try to find another tenent in the current market!
 
Has he asked you to send the money to him directly or to pay it yourself ? He is ultimately responsible for this payment to revenue, not you.
 
The tenant cannot register to pay the household charge...it must be the owner of the property....
 
I have been down this road with different councils, i have properties let under the RAS scheme but an told that due to the household charge being a tax not a rate the clause in the agreement refered to by gerprem08 does not apply as water refuse etc are rates not taxes.
 
gerprem08 said:
Does this lease entitle him to ask me for the €100?
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Have a look at Thresholds response to the Household charge here;

http://www.threshold.ie/

PRESS STATEMENT
Thursday, 15th December 2011
Tenants Will Not be Liable for Household Charge – Threshold
– Housing charity outlines how landlords, rather than tenants, are liable for new charge –

Landlords will bear full responsibility for payment of the new household charge and under no circumstances will tenants be liable. That’s according to Threshold, the national housing charity.

Speaking today (15.12.11), Aideen Hayden, Chairperson of Threshold, said she was shocked to see the Irish Property Owners’ Association (IPOA) urging landlords to levy the household charge on their tenants.

“I’m horrified that a national representative body would make such a misleading and irresponsible call,” she said. “When the Department of the Environment introduced this charge in the recent Budget, it stated very clearly that owners – not occupiers – would be liable.

“The Minister for the Environment has clearly outlined that responsibility for payment lies with the home-owner. Therefore, it is opportunistic, unfair – and legally wrong – for any landlord to now try to pass this charge on to his or her tenants.”

Ms. Hayden said she was also surprised the IPOA was advising landlords to pass on the non-principal private residence (NPPR) charge to tenants. “Again, this advice is completely misleading and would actually lead to landlords breaking the law,” she said. “The Local Government (Charges) Act 2009 quite clearly sets out that it is the owner – not the occupier – of a property who is liable for the NPPR.

“Because there is now such misleading information in the public domain, Threshold is concerned that tenants will start being pressurised by their landlords into paying these charges.

Our advice to tenants is: under no circumstances should they pay either the new property charge or the NPPR.

“If their refusal to pay leads to a dispute with their landlord, they should refer the matter to the Private Residential Tenancies Board. And Threshold is always here to help. If any tenants need advice or support around this issue, they should contact us immediately.”

Threshold runs a number of advice centres for tenants throughout the country. These can be contacted on the following numbers:
 Eastern Region: 01-678 6096
 Western Region: 091-563 080
 Southern Region: 021-427 8848
Further information on tenants’ rights is also available on the organisation’s website, www.threshold.ie.
ENDS
Contact: Martina Quinn / Noomi Egan, DHR Communications, Tel: 01-4200580 / 087-6522033 / 087-7449915
About Threshold
Threshold was founded in 1978 and is a not-for-profit organisation whose aim is to secure a right to housing, particularly for households experiencing the problems of poverty and exclusion. Its main concentration of work is within the rented sector. The organisation operates a national office, based in Dublin, and three regional offices. It provides advice and representation to almost 20,000 people each year. Further information is available at www.threshold.ie.
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and from citizens advice
Household Charge

citizensadvice said:
Who has to pay

If you own a dwelling, you are liable for the Household Charge on it, subject to the waivers and exemptions listed below. If your house is rented out, you are liable for the charge – not your tenant. However, if it is let on a lease of more than 20 years, the person to whom it is leased is the owner for the purposes of the charge.
If you have a second home or other property on which you have to pay the Non-Principal Private Residence (NPPR) charge, you will also have to pay the Household Charge on it.
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T McGibney said:
A dangerous course of action unless the tenant actually wants to leave.
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If I was the OP I would not let the Landlord bully me like this. There are plenty of good rental properties on the market. I would rather leave than put up with this.

Obviously the OP should not call the Landlord's bluff if they would rather stay.

However if the tenent agrees to a rent increase to cover the Household Charge, what will happen when the Household Charge becomes a full blown Property Tax?

It's likely that the Landlord will try to pass this on too!
 
Adhering to the explicit terms of a lease is hardly bullying!

Its utterly naive to expect in the long term that landlords will be shouldering the full property tax without passing this cost on to their tenants.

Tenants pay council and property taxes as a matter of course in other jurisdictions.
 
T McGibney said:
Adhering to the explicit terms of a lease is hardly bullying!
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Okay! Maybe bullying is a bit much. However it is obvious that the OP feels hard done by. And yes they have to adhere to the terms of the the lease that they signed. They are free however to walk away from this property at the end of the lease agreement to find another property with a lease that has more favourable terms.

T McGibney said:
Its utterly naive to expect in the long term that landlords will be shouldering the full property tax without passing this cost on to their tenants.
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It's obvious that landlords will eventually increase their rents by stleath over a course of time to absorb the cost of the Household Charge. However blatantly passing it on in full is only going to antagonise tenents.

T McGibney said:
Tenants pay council and property taxes as a matter of course in other jurisdictions.
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What goes on in other jurisdications is irrelevant in this country.
 
Perhaps Landlords should consider passing on their income tax liability to tenants as well!

But seriously, I think Treshold's advice is worth considering.

treshold said:
“When the Department of the Environment introduced this charge in the recent Budget, it stated very clearly that owners – not occupiers – would be liable."

Our advice to tenants is: under no circumstances should they pay either the new property charge or the NPPR.

“If their refusal to pay leads to a dispute with their landlord, they should refer the matter to the Private Residential Tenancies Board. And Threshold is always here to help. If any tenants need advice or support around this issue, they should contact us immediately.”
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It would be interesting to check with a lawyer on whether the lease could be enforceable under Irish law given there was no explicit amount specified in the original lease.
 
for information from the ipoa website.

ipoa said:
The following is an extract from a standard form Lease Agreement

The Tenant agrees with the Landlord as follows:-
“To pay and discharge Rates in respect of the Premises and to pay and discharge all applicable charges in respect of any Services used or consumed on the Premises without prejudice to the foregoing to pay and discharge charges for any additional service whether specified in the definition of Services or not which is or which may be rendered by a local authority in respect of the premises and to indemnify the Landlord against any charges which are or which may be payable by him in respect of the premises during the period of the Lease.”
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Still may not be legal. Just because it is in every lease agreement don't make it a sure thing. It is open to challenge.
 
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