Council tax liability

To find out who has to pay council tax on your home, take a look at the following list. As soon as you reach a description that applies to one or more people in your home, that's the person 'liable' and responsible for paying the bill. The spouse or partner of a liable person may also be held jointly liable.

  • A resident freeholder
  • A resident leaseholder
  • A resident tenant
  • A resident licensee
  • A resident
  • The owner

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

Landlord/tenant liability

For council tax, where a property is no-one’s main residence, it's the owner of the property who becomes responsible for council tax.

For the purposes of council tax, the Local Government Finance Act 1992 defines the meaning of ‘owner’ as follows:

'An owner in relation to any dwelling is a person who satisfies the following conditions:

1/ That they have a material interest in the whole or any part of the dwelling; and

2/ That at least part of the dwelling (or the part concerned) is not subject to a material interest inferior to their interest.'

Renters' Right Act 2025

From 1 May 2026, all Assured Shorthold Tenancies both new and existing, have been abolished and replaced with Assured Periodic Tenancies. This means that rather than a tenancy having a set or fixed term, as was the case with Assured Shorthold Tenancies, all tenancies are now periodic and ‘roll’ from period to period.

The Renters Right Act 2025 has also changed the definition of ‘material interest’ for council tax as follows:

"Material Interest" means a freehold interest or a leasehold interest which was granted for a term of six months or a tenancy that is or was previously an assured tenancy within the meaning of the Housing Act 1988.

This means that the tenant will be classed as the owner for council tax purposes when they vacate the property unless they have provided sufficient notice to quit the property.

So, for a tenant to end their tenancy they must normally have to provide at least two months’ written notice to the landlord, and they will remain liable for council tax for the duration of the notice period, regardless of whether they occupy the property or not. In the absence of any such notice, and unless the landlord agrees a shorter notice period or accepts surrender of the tenancy, the tenant will remain liable for council tax, indefinitely, whether they occupy the property, or not.

These changes only apply to the private rented sector.

Owner liability

The first type of owner liability applies where a dwelling is no-one's sole or main residence, usually an empty property.

Although this type of liability also arises in the case of second homes or holiday homes, it also applies to occupied dwellings where the sole or all occupiers are under 18 years of age, or where all occupiers are disregarded for example care homes. None of them are classed as resident, and liability therefore lies with the owner.

There are some circumstances where the owner remains liable for council tax even where the property is occupied.

Classes of owner liability

  • Class A - a residential care home, (mental) nursing home or hostel
  • Class B - a dwelling inhabited by religious communities, for example monks and nuns
  • Class C - a dwelling inhabited by numerous tenants or licensees. This is usually referred to as a house in multiple occupation
  • Class D - a dwelling inhabited by resident staff employed for domestic services that is occasionally occupied by the employer
  • Class E - a dwelling inhabited by a minister of any religion in order to perform their duties of office
  • Class F - a dwelling provided to an asylum seeker or under section 95 of the Immigration Asylum Act 1999

Joint and several liability

Payment can be sought from anyone who is jointly and severally liable. Any persons on the same level within the hierarchy of liability are jointly and severally liable for the council tax on a dwelling.

Severely mentally impaired persons who are joint owners aren't liable if another person is resident in the dwelling.

Fair processing notice

We're required under Section 6 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 to participate in the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) data matching exercise.

Council tax data will be provided to the Audit Commission for NFI, and will be used for cross-authority comparison for the prevention and detection of fraud.

Further information is available in our privacy policy.