In this case, a landlord claimed reimbursement of £23.84 for council tax due for a five-day period in February.

The tenants felt that the council tax payment was not their liability as their tenancy had formally ended in January.

The landlord and tenants had signed a tenancy agreement which came to an end on the last day of January, however, the tenants vacated earlier than the agreed end date of the tenancy.

A clause in the tenancy agreement obligated the tenants to pay council tax for the duration of the tenancy and ‘to pay costs incurred by the landlord as a result of the tenant ceasing to occupy the property as his main and principle home during the tenancy’.

The evidence showed that a vacant property in the locality of the property was eligible for a 100% discount on council tax for a period of one month only.

The tenants notified the local authority on the day they left the property that the property was now vacant, which triggered the start of the one-month discount period for council tax.

By notifying the local authority that the property was vacant earlier than the end of the contractual end date of the tenancy, the tenants benefitted from a period of non-payment of council tax from the date the tenants left to the contractual end date of the tenancy.

The council tax discount would have been applied for the month of February, but the tenants ceased to occupy the property as their main and principle home earlier than the end of their tenancy’s term.

The adjudicator’s decision

The adjudicator was satisfied that the landlord had suffered a loss and reimbursed the landlord in full.

So, what are the key points here?

A landlord must show that the tenants have breached a term of the tenancy agreement and that a loss has been suffered as a result of the tenants’ breach.

It is vital tenants regularly check the obligations placed on them by the tenancy agreement to ensure they are not in breach of its terms, albeit unintentionally.

In this case, the tenants moved to their new home and started council tax payments there, however, this left them in breach of their earlier agreement with the landlord.

Sandy Bastin is head of dispute resolution at TDS.