Council Tax is charged on domestic dwellings to help pay for services provided by the County Council, the District Council, your Town or Parish Council and the Police and Fire Authorities.
Council Tax Hierarchy and Legal Interest
Normally the person living in a property will have to pay the Council Tax. But we use a hierarchy to work out who should pay for a particular dwelling. By using this hierarchy, we can determine who should pay the bill and it is usually the person who appears first on this list that we send a bill to.
- A resident owner/occupier who lives in the property. Owning either a leasehold or freehold interest in that property.
- A tenant that lives in the property
- Anyone else who lives in the property for example a squatter
- If no-one lives in the property, then it will be the owner
In situations where there are two or more people living in the property, having an equal interest in that property, for example joint owners and joint tenants, we would send a bill in all names. For married couples or a couple living together as partners we would send a bill in both names.
In these situations, any of these people can be held legally responsible for paying the whole bill.
If there are additional members of the household who do not hold a legal interest in the property, for example an adult child who is not a joint owner or tenant they will not be named on the council tax bill.
There are some exceptions where the owner of a property is responsible for paying the bill rather than the people who live in it. These are:
- Residential care homes
- Houses of multiple occupation
- Religious communities
- Residential staff accommodation
- Some properties for religious ministers
- Homes for asylum seekers