Discounts for occupied properties
A full council tax bill assumes there are at least two adults living in the property.
If only one adult lives in a property, we can lower the council tax by 25%. We call this a ‘single person discount’.
Some people are not counted as living in a property for council tax purposes, so even if there is more than one adult living in the property, we can still give a discount.
Check by counting how many people live in your property, leaving out:
- apprentices and youth trainees
- students, student nurses and foreign language assistants
- hospital patients or care home patients
- people who are severely mentally impaired
- people for whom child benefit is payable
- people aged under 20 years who have recently left school or college
- carers and care workers
- people in prison or on remand
- members of religious communities, such as monks and nuns
- residents of hostels or night shelters
- spouses of students where they are prevented (by immigration rules) from paid work or claiming benefit
- people who are diplomats, members of international headquarters, defence organisations and visiting forces
The amount of discount you can get will be:
- 25 percent if only one person is counted as resident
- 50 percent if no one is counted as resident
- 50 percent annexe discount if it’s unoccupied or lived in by a relative of the main householder
- 100 percent annexe discount if the person living there is a dependant relative
If no one counts as resident because all the residents are severely mentally impaired or students, the property will be exempt from council tax.
There are discounts and/or exemptions for homes that can’t be lived in, unoccupied homes and properties undergoing major repairs.
The person responsible for paying council tax must complete the below discount/exemption claim form if they want to apply.
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