Council tax reductions

Information about council tax discounts, eligibility criteria, disregarded persons, and reductions and premiums for empty properties.

Exempt properties

The information provided is intended as guidance only and is not a full statement of the law. 

Council tax is not charged on occupied homes which:

• only students live in
• only people under 18 live in
• only people who are severely mentally ill live in (if they would otherwise be responsible for the council tax payments)
• a liable person resides there as a diplomat
• are 'granny flats' forming part of a single property, where a dependant relative of the taxpayer lives

Council tax is not charged on empty homes which:

• a charity owns (exempt for up to six months)
• are empty because the person who lived there is in prison, hospital or a home
• are empty because the person who lived there has gone to live with someone else to receive care or has moved to care for someone else
• have been unoccupied since the date the person who would normally pay the council tax has passed away, remains unoccupied and the trustee is waiting for probate or letters of administration to be granted. This applies until probate/ letters of administration have been granted and for 6 months afterwards (unless someone else becomes the owner/occupier)
• have been repossessed
• a student owns and was the last person to live in it
• a bankrupt person’s trustee is responsible for
• are empty because nobody can live in them by law
• a minister of religion is waiting to move into

Please contact us if you think your property should be exempt from council tax, or if you are receiving this reduction and the circumstances under which it was granted have changed.

Last updated: 19 March 2024