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If an assured tenant has moved out but the tenancy is still legally continuing, the tenant will usually remain the council tax payer. The council tax liability does not pass back to the landlord just because the property is empty.
The question is no longer whether the tenancy is contractual periodic or statutory periodic. The question is whether the tenancy has actually ended.
Section 28 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 amends the council tax definition of "material interest" in section 6 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. A tenancy that is, or was previously, an assured tenancy under the Housing Act 1988 now counts as a material interest for this purpose.
Council tax liability is decided by the statutory hierarchy in section 6 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Where someone is a resident, the resident categories usually decide who pays. Where no one is resident, liability falls on the "owner".
For council tax, "owner" does not simply mean the freeholder in every case. It means the person with a relevant material interest. After the Renters' Rights Act change, a continuing assured tenancy is enough to give the tenant that material interest, even if the tenancy is monthly or weekly and the tenant is no longer living at the property.
So if a tenant leaves without ending the tenancy properly, the landlord should not automatically be billed for the empty period. The tenant remains liable while the assured tenancy continues. The landlord, or another liable person, becomes liable only when the tenancy has ended.
For most disputes, this is the point to settle first. A tenant leaving furniture behind, posting the keys through the door, or telling the landlord they have gone may be evidence, but it does not always end the tenancy by itself.
The tenancy will normally end in one of these ways:
Until one of those things has happened, treat the tenancy as continuing unless there is clear evidence to the contrary.
A tenant's notice must be checked carefully. For assured periodic tenancies, the default minimum notice is two months. A shorter period can apply only if the landlord has agreed it in writing, and even then it cannot exceed two months. Many existing tenancy agreements already contain a written clause requiring one month's notice; that kind of clause will normally operate as the "agreed in writing" shorter period.
The notice must also be in writing and must expire on the right day. It needs to end on the day rent is due or the day before, so it lines up with the end of a rent period. A notice that does not expire on one of those days can be invalid even if the length of notice is correct.
If the tenant gives a valid notice and leaves before the notice expires, the tenancy normally continues until the expiry date. The tenant should remain responsible for council tax until then.
If the notice is invalid, do not assume it ends the tenancy anyway. It may still end the tenancy if the landlord accepts it, but that is effectively a surrender. If the landlord rejects the invalid notice and does nothing inconsistent with the tenancy continuing, the tenant's council tax liability may continue until there is a valid notice, surrender, or possession.
A tenancy can end by surrender, but there must be clear conduct by both sides. The tenant offering or returning keys is not always enough. The landlord must also do something that clearly accepts the tenancy as ended.
Examples of conduct that may point towards acceptance include re-letting the property, taking back full possession for the landlord's own purposes, or carrying out works that are inconsistent with the tenant still having the tenancy. The facts matter.
Landlords should be careful with keys. Accepting keys for inspection, security, or emergency access is different from accepting that the tenancy has ended. Put the position in writing. If the tenancy is not being accepted as ended, say so clearly and keep demanding rent and other sums due under the tenancy.
Abandonment is risky because the tenant may have left without legally giving up the tenancy. The safest approach is to build evidence before treating the tenancy as ended.
Useful steps include:
If the tenant has not surrendered and there is no valid notice, the landlord may need to use the section 8 possession route.
When writing to the billing authority, keep the argument simple. The tenant was the assured tenant. The tenancy has not ended. The property may be empty, but the tenant still has a material interest under section 6 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as amended by section 28 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Liability should not pass to the landlord until the tenancy ends.
Send evidence of the continuing tenancy, such as:
Once the tenancy has ended, update the council with the end date. From that date, council tax liability will be decided in the usual way under the hierarchy.
Older cases such as CT v Horsham District Council (HB) and Leeds City Council v Broadley were important under the previous wording of the council tax legislation. They focused on whether a periodic tenancy gave the tenant a leasehold interest granted for at least six months.
That distinction may still matter for older billing periods before the Renters' Rights Act change, or for disputes outside the assured tenancy wording. For ordinary continuing assured tenancies under the current law, it should no longer be the main test. The amended definition now deals directly with assured tenancies.
Members can use the following template letters where the council has billed the landlord even though the tenancy had not ended:
Before sending a letter, check the end date of the tenancy and make sure the landlord has not accepted a surrender by words or conduct.