Council tax liability in void period

Tenancy Types and Management

If your property is empty then clearly it becomes the landlord's responsibility to pay council tax (unfair though it may be as you are paying for no services!). But what if the tenant is still there after they were supposed to leave?

If the tenancy is an AST and continues on as a 'periodic' then the liability depends on whether it has continued as a statutory or a contractual tenancy agreement. The latter is the one you want if you wish to avoid paying their council tax. The NRLA agreement was adjusted not too long ago to specifically say the roll over is a 'contractual' periodic tenancy. So what if you have an older agreement that does not have the crucial word 'contractual'? Having looked at a previous post, it seems that the mere fact that an agreement says somewhere it will continue as a periodic, means it does NOT become a statutory. However I have a council wanting to claim CT on me for when the tenant was in fact still there, for 4 months, until the court order for eviction, and my AST agreement has this clause stating rollover is to be periodic.

The primary responsibility for CT is generally on whoever is residing at the property in the first instance. Including squatters.

Has anybody had to argue this 'CT liability during voids which aren't voids' point with their council? Has it been to court, is there a legal precedent?