Council Tax Banding on individual rooms in an HMO

Campaigning and Policy

The VoA is re-banding HMO properties by the room. Local to me they turned a 13 bed all en-suite (but no individual kitchens) from band C for the whole property to 13 x band A. The landlord went bankrupt and the building still sits empty. Is the NRLA aware of this issue in general and what actions are you taking and what can I do? It seems to me that making the effort to add facility to people, such as an en-suite, means we will be punished for adding comfort. HMOs are most often chosen by tenants because of financial hardship. Giving them some privacy for their personal ablutions now seems punishable, when they could NOT live independently in their room and could not have a separate title that could be mortgaged if under 30 sq m. But VoA is treating these units as separately taxable dwellings. The same law has been in place since the council tax was introduced decades ago but its interpretation is wholly subjective and this interpretation has been changed more recently. We need to stop this. I would be happy to have a small premium added to council tax for HMO as there is a small additional use of council facility such as waste removal BUT these adults in properties will be spending more in local shops adding to footfall and helping local business and paying back that way.