Council tax - liability

Who is liable for Council Tax?

There is one Council Tax bill for each property.

The resident of the property is liable to pay the Council Tax. A resident is a person 18 years or over who lives in the property.

If the property is empty the owner is responsible for the Council Tax.

Joint and several liability

There can be more than one liable person for a property. Joint and several liability means that anybody with the same interest in a property, married couples, civil partners or people living together as if they were married or in a civil partnership would be jointly and severally liable.

Sole or main residence

If a person has only one home there is not usually a problem in deciding which is their sole or main residence.

If a person has more than one home it is important to decide where that person's main residence is as this is a major factor in deciding how much Council Tax is payable.