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Who is liable to pay council tax?

 

There will only be one council tax bill per dwelling. To work out who will have to pay for your home (or "dwelling"), look down the list in the box below. As soon as you reach a description that applies to someone in your home, they will be responsible for the bill (and will be the "liable person"):

 

AA resident freeholder (so for owner-occupied property the owner will be liable).
BA resident leaseholder (this includes assured tenants under the Housing Act 1988).
CA resident statutory or secure tenant.
DA resident licensee.
EA resident.
FThe owner (this applies where the dwelling has no resident).

 

A resident is a person of 18 years or over who lives in the dwelling as their only or main home.

These rules mean that the owner-occupier(s) or residents (including council tenants) will usually have to pay the tax. If the property is empty, or it is not anyone's main home, or if the people living there are under 18, the owner will be responsible for the bill. A tenant will not have to pay the council tax if their landlord lives in the dwelling. The rules do not apply in some special cases – these are described below:

  • Dwellings occupied by more than one household, where the residents pay rent separately for different parts of the dwelling and where the households perhaps share cooking or washing facilities. For example, some hostels, nurses homes or groups of bed-sits.
  • Residential care homes, nursing homes (such as hospices), mental care homes or certain types of hostel providing a high level of care.
  • Religious communities such as monasteries or convents.
  • Dwellings which are not the owner's main home, but which are the main home of someone whom the owner employs in domestic service.
  • Vicarages and other dwellings where a minister of religion lives and works.
  • Accommodation provided for Asylum Seekers under 595 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.   

You may also appeal if you consider that you are not liable to pay council tax, for example because you are not the resident or owner, or because your property is exempt, or that the council has made a mistake in calculating your bill. If you wish to appeal on these grounds you must first notify the council tax section in writing so that we have the opportunity to reconsider the case.

Making an appeal does not allow you to withhold payment of tax owing in the meantime. If your appeal is successful you will be entitled to a refund of any overpaid tax. Further details of the appeal procedures (including the role of Valuation Tribunals) can be obtained from the revenues and benefits service. 



Last updated 29/12/2009 17:08:14


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