Who pays council tax?
If you’re 18 or over and own or rent a home, you’ll need to pay council tax.
If only one person lives in a property, he or she will be the person liable to pay council tax.
If two or more people live in a property, the person highest on the following list will be responsible for paying council tax.
- Resident freeholder
- Resident leaseholder
- Resident tenant
- Resident licensee
- Any other resident
- The owner, where no one is resident
A resident is anyone aged 18 years or over who lives in the property as their only or main home.
Joint liability
Two or more people can be jointly responsible for council tax at one property.
This applies to:
- joint owners or joint tenants
- residents who are married, live together as husband and wife or who are civil partners
This means that we can make all of them or any one of them pay for the council tax.
Request to add a person to your council tax bill
When the property owner pays
There will be times when the owner of the property will have to pay rather than the resident. For example:
- properties that are nobody's main home
- houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)
- residential care homes, nursing homes or hostels
- homes occupied by a religious community
- homes which are not the owner's main home but are occupied by their domestic employee
- homes where a minister of religion lives and works
- properties occupied by asylum seekers
Discounts and exemptions
Find out about discounts and exemptions for certain people and properties.
