Some properties are exempt from Council Tax. If a property is exempt, you do not need to pay Council Tax for it.
Properties exempt from Council Tax
Vacant properties
Some empty properties are exempt from paying Council Tax, including:
- properties owned by a charity (exempt for up to six months)
- properties left empty by someone who has gone to prison
- properties left empty by someone who has moved to get care in hospital or a care home
- properties left empty by someone who has moved to provide care for someone else
- properties that are waiting for probate or letters of administration to be granted (and for up to six months after)
- properties that are empty because they cannot be lived in by law
- properties that are waiting to be occupied by a minister of religion
- properties left empty by students
- repossessed properties
- properties that are the responsibility of a bankrupt person’s trustee
- unoccupied caravan pitches and boat moorings
- properties that can’t be let separately from another property
Occupied properties
Some occupied properties are exempt from paying Council Tax, including:
- student halls of residence
- properties only lived in by students – your course must be at least 21 hours a week over at least 24 weeks of the year
- armed forces accommodation
- properties that visiting armed forces live in
- properties only occupied by people under 18
- properties only occupied by people who are severely mentally impaired
- properties only occupied by foreign diplomats
- annexes lived in by an elderly and mentally impaired or disabled relative
- any other relative living in a self-contained annexe (entitled to a 50% reduction in their Council Tax bill)