THE LIABLE PERSON

WHO HAS TO PAY THE BILL?

There is only one Council Tax bill for each dwelling. To work out who has to pay for your home, start at the top of the following list of potentially liable people. The first description you reach that applies to someone in your household will be the person responsible for payment of the Council Tax.

For Council Tax purposes a resident is a person of 18 years or over who lives in the dwelling as their only or main home.

If there is more than one person in your household with the same level of responsibility then they are each responsible for the full amount of the tax, and not just a share of it. This includes married couples who are jointly and separately liable to pay the Council Tax. The Civil Partnership Act came into force on 5th December 2005 and provides for (same sex) civil partners to be jointly and severally liable for Council Tax in the same way as married couples.

A resident person's interest in a property will mean either:

A resident Freeholder

A resident Leaseholder

A resident Statutory or Secure tenant

A resident Licensee

Just being Resident in the property

Where no resident has an interest in the property then liability will fall upon whoever is living there, (e.g. Squatters.)

Where a dwelling is occupied by more than one household and the residents pay rent separately for different parts of the dwelling (e.g. hostels and bed-sits), the landlord is responsible for paying the tax. See section headed Liability For Owners for further information.

If the property is unoccupied then the Owner will be liable to pay empty rate on the property.

For Council Tax purposes the Owner is a person who holds the freehold or has a leasehold interest of six months or more.