When Can You Claim a Council Tax Exemption? or Get a Discount

A council tax exemption means no bill at all while the home fits one of the classes set out in law. Those classes include a home where everyone is a full-time student, and one left empty after the owner dies or moves into a care home for good. Most other homes in England pay something, though a discount or Council Tax Support can cut the bill. Being empty or being renovated isn't enough on its own.

Everything below is about England unless it says otherwise; Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differences are flagged where they matter. If you think a home is in the wrong band, you can challenge your council tax bill, which is separate from claiming an exemption.

Article updated: November 2026

What is Council Tax?

Council tax is a tax on homes that pays for local council services. In England each listed home sits in one of eight bands, A to H, based on its 1991 value. Each council sets its own charge for each band, so the same band costs a different amount from one council to the next, which matters whether you're weighing up an investment property in London or buying a property in Leeds.

Scotland also has eight bands. Wales has nine, A to I, based on 2003 values, as the Welsh Government's dwellings statistics show. Northern Ireland has no council tax at all. Homes there pay domestic rates, run by Land and Property Services.

There are four different ways to end up paying less, and they're easy to mix up:

Councils decide all of these except removal, which is for the Valuation Office in England and Wales and the Scottish Assessors in Scotland.

Who Can Get a Full Council Tax Exemption?

In England, the exempt homes include those lived in only by full-time students, under-18s or people who are severely mentally impaired. An empty home may qualify if it was left empty after its owner or tenant died, moved permanently into care or hospital, or went to prison, or if a lender repossessed it. Annexes lived in by a dependent relative are exempt too, as are the homes of diplomats and visiting forces.

There are 21 classes in all, lettered B to W, each with its own conditions. An exemption isn't automatic: under the GOV.UK rules, you have to apply.

Empty Properties

An empty home in England usually pays the full bill. The national exemptions for empty, unfurnished homes and for homes needing major repairs were abolished in England in April 2013. Since then each council can set its own local discount for empty homes. Some give a short discount; others give none. Wales and Scotland still give an empty, unfurnished home up to six months' exemption, with conditions, under the Welsh rules and the Scottish rules.

Holding costs are what I've seen catch new landlords out most, and council tax on an empty property is one of them. Some councils give a local discount between tenancies and some don't. So it depends on the council, and that counts when you're buying an investment property and asking "is buy-to-let worth it?"

Under section 11B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, a council in England can add a premium once a home has been empty and substantially unfurnished for a year. The maximum rises the longer it stays that way:

These are ceilings, and each council decides whether to charge. Section 11B counts the year from when the home was last lived in or furnished, so a new owner can face the premium from completion. If someone moves back in, or furniture goes back in, for six weeks or less, the clock doesn't restart.

Putting a home up for sale doesn't stop the bill. Under section 6 of the 1992 Act, whoever is liable keeps paying: usually the resident while someone lives there, and usually the owner once the home is empty, until completion. From April 2025, the 2024 premium exception rules take the premium off a home genuinely marketed for sale at a reasonable price for up to 12 months, including after an offer is accepted. The for-let exception works the same way, including for a let agreed property whose tenancy hasn't started.

Each owner gets the for-sale exception once, and a new owner after a sale gets their own. Under the premium guidance, the for-let exception can be used again only after a continuous letting of at least six months, or an assured tenancy. If a home is furnished between tenants, the second-home premium can apply instead, with no one-year wait, though the for-let exception keeps it off for up to 12 months.

Since 1 May 2026, under the amended section 6, a tenant on an assured tenancy who gives notice and moves out early stays liable until the notice period ends, so the bill doesn't pass straight back to the landlord.

A few empty homes are still fully exempt in England:

Repossessed Properties: An empty home is exempt while a mortgage lender is in possession of it, under the Exempt Dwellings Order. The exemption ends when the lender sells, so if you're buying a repossessed house, it doesn't pass to you.

Homes the law says can't be lived in: Class G covers an empty home where living there is banned by law or by a planning condition. It also covers an empty home where a council or other public body is using its legal powers to stop anyone living there or to buy it compulsorily. Being earmarked for demolition isn't enough on its own.

Some councils advertise grants and loans for empty homes in these regions:

• Empty home grants in London
• Empty home grants in the East Midlands
• Empty home grants in the West Midlands
• Empty home grants in the North West

Full-Time Students

A home where everyone is a full-time student pays no council tax. For anyone looking into how to become a student landlord, this is the class that matters: a house let only to qualifying students has no bill, whoever would normally pay it.

Under the student definitions, a full-time course lasts at least a year, with 24 or more weeks of study a year averaging at least 21 hours a week. Under-20s also count on a daytime course up to A level that lasts more than three months, with more than 12 hours of study a week. That under-20 route doesn't cover correspondence courses or courses done because of a job.

One non-student usually ends the exemption, though not always. Under Class N, some non-students can live with students without ending the exemption: some school and college leavers, some non-British family members of students, and some people covered by Homes for Ukraine. Where the exemption does go, students still don't count, so one non-student living with students can claim the 25% single person discount.

Uninhabitable Properties

Three routes can lower the bill on a home that can't be lived in. The council decides two of them and the Valuation Office decides the other:

1. Full exemption (the council): Class G, where the law stops anyone living there.
2. Removal from the valuation list (the Valuation Office): the home is truly derelict or under major renovation.
3. A local discount or the major-repairs exception (the council): the home needs or is having major repairs. A discount can cut the bill, sometimes to nothing; the exception only removes the premium.

Derelict Properties: The Valuation Office, part of HMRC since 1 April 2026 and formerly the Valuation Office Agency, can delete a home from the list if it is truly derelict or undergoing major renovation. Signs include many missing roof tiles, collapsed ceilings, damaged joists and extensive rot. Poor repair or being empty isn't enough, and a lived-in home keeps its band even during big works.

Saying a home is in poor condition isn't enough. In a June 2026 High Court case, a tenant said a house was uninhabitable. The appeal was out of time, and the court said it would have failed anyway, because the test is whether a reasonable amount of repair would make the house fit to live in. If it would, the home stays on the list. Selling a damaged home is a separate question, covered in our guide can you sell a house with structural damage.

Properties Undergoing Major Works: England has no national council tax renovation exemption. A council can give its own discount for up to 12 months on an empty, unfurnished home that needs or is having major repair work to make it habitable. Separately, the major-repairs exception keeps the premium off a long-empty home that needs or is having major repairs or structural alteration, for up to 12 months. Those 12 months can include up to six months after the work is finished. It ends early if the home becomes substantially furnished, and once used it isn't available again until the home is sold.

The removal guidance says that when a home has been removed from the list, owners tell the council when the work is finished. The home is then banded as new from the completion date, and the band may go up.

Refurbishments often turn up work nobody spotted at the first viewing, and in my experience that's how a job runs on. While the home is still chargeable, every extra month is another month on the bill.

Wales and Scotland still have repair exemptions of up to 12 months, set out in the Welsh exemption rules and the Scottish empty homes rules.

Care Home Residents

A home left empty because the owner or tenant now lives permanently in a hospital, care home or qualifying hostel is exempt, under Class E of the Exempt Dwellings Order. It must have been their main home, they must still own it or still hold the tenancy, and a short hospital stay doesn't count. Classes I and J cover a home left empty while the owner or tenant gets care elsewhere, or has moved out to give it.

Properties After Death (Probate)

In England, a home left empty after its owner dies can be exempt in stages, under Class F of the Exempt Dwellings Order:

1. From the death until probate or letters of administration are granted: exempt while it stays empty. There's no fixed time limit.
2. After the grant: exempt for up to six more months, while it stays empty and hasn't been sold or passed on.
3. After that: the ordinary bill. The probate exception keeps the empty-home or second-home premium off for up to 12 months from the grant, ending early if the home is sold. That matters because a furnished home can count as a second home.

Those 12 months overlap the six-month exemption rather than following it. Class F doesn't apply where someone other than the estate is liable, such as a surviving joint owner. Where it does, executors have time to sell the house under probate or sort out the estate without a bill.

Wales is different, under the Welsh exemption rules. The exemption lasts until the grant, but no longer than two years from the death, then up to 12 months after the grant. With no grant within two years, council tax becomes payable. For a death before 1 April 2026, the 2026 Welsh regulations count those two years from 1 April 2026 instead. In Scotland, confirmation is the court document that lets the executor deal with the estate. The exemption's end date depends on when confirmation is granted. Mygov.scot says the council can tell you how long the exemption lasts.

Other Exemptions

Some other classes in England cover narrower situations:

Prisoners: A home left empty because the owner or tenant is in prison is exempt under the Exempt Dwellings Order, unless they're held for not paying council tax or a fine, which schedule 1 of the 1992 Act excludes. If someone else still lives there, this class doesn't apply.

Diplomatic Properties: A home is exempt where the person who would pay is a diplomat or linked to a visiting force, as the official class list shows.

Annexes: Under Class W, an annexe is exempt if it's the main home of a relative of someone in the main house. That relative must be 65 or over, severely mentally impaired, or substantially and permanently disabled, as article 2 defines. An empty annexe that planning rules say can't be let on its own is exempt too.

Other occupied homes: Homes lived in only by under-18s are exempt under Class S. So are homes lived in only by people who are severely mentally impaired, or by them and students, under Class U. The exact conditions depend on who would otherwise pay the bill.

Council Tax Discounts

A discount reduces the ordinary bill. The two household discounts are 25% and 50%, and a council's own discounts can go further, sometimes to nothing.

Single Person Discount (25%)

If you're the only adult who counts in a home that's your main home, the bill falls by 25%. You apply, and the council checks who lives there. Owners and tenants can both claim.

Under-18s never count. Some adults are "disregarded" too, so living with them still leaves you counted as alone. These five groups are disregarded, each with its own conditions:

• Full-time students and student nurses, on courses that meet the legal definitions
• 18 and 19-year-olds in qualifying full-time education, as GOV.UK lists
• Apprentices on approved training paid no more than £195 a week
• People who are severely mentally impaired, with a medical certificate and eligibility for certain benefits
• Unpaid live-in carers who give at least 35 hours of care a week to someone who gets a qualifying benefit such as Attendance Allowance, as long as that person isn't their partner or their child under 18

A few narrower groups, such as diplomats and foreign language assistants, are disregarded too. If everyone in a home that isn't already exempt is disregarded, the bill halves.

Disabled Band Reduction

Under the Disabled Band Reduction Scheme, the bill is worked out at the band below when a disabled adult or child lives in the home as their main home. The home must also have an extra bathroom, kitchen or other room they need, or extra space to use a wheelchair indoors.

The person must be substantially and permanently disabled. Under the reduction regulations, an extra room other than a bathroom, kitchen or toilet has to be mainly used by them, and any feature has to be essential to, or of major importance to, their wellbeing because of the disability. The band itself doesn't change. A Band D home pays the Band C charge, and a Band A home gets a sixth off, about 17%, because there's no band below A.

Second Homes and Holiday Lets

Since April 2025, councils in England can charge up to 100% extra on a second home, meaning a furnished home that's nobody's main home, under the premium guidance. There's no waiting period, but a council has to decide at least a year before the financial year the premium starts.

A buy-to-let with a tenant living in it isn't a second home, though a furnished one left empty between lets can be. Job-related homes, occupied caravan pitches and moorings, and homes with a planning condition that stops anyone living there all year are excepted from this premium.

Wales lets councils charge up to 300% extra on second homes and long-term empty homes, under the Welsh premium rules. In Scotland there's been no national cap since 1 April 2026, and each council sets its own premium, according to mygov.scot. A Scottish home has to be used for at least 25 days a year to count as a second home rather than an empty one.

Holiday Lets: A holiday let run as a business can pay business rates instead of council tax. In England, under the self-catering tests, it must have been available for at least 140 nights in the last 12 months and actually let for at least 70 of them, in stays of 28 nights or less. It must also be planned to be available for 140 nights in the next 12.

Wales sets higher thresholds than England. Under the Welsh tests, a holiday let needs at least 252 nights available in the past 12 months, a plan for at least 252 in the next 12, and at least 182 nights actually let in the past 12. Since April 2026, Business Wales says owners can average the nights let over two or three years, and count up to 14 days a year of free short breaks arranged through a registered charity. If you're buying a holiday let, which side of that line it falls on changes the running costs.

Council Tax Support (Up to 100% Off)

Council Tax Support, also called Council Tax Reduction, is a means-tested cut to your bill of up to 100%. It reduces what you owe rather than paying cash.

Who Qualifies for Council Tax Support?

You can apply if you're liable for council tax and on a low income or claiming benefits, whether you own, rent, work or not. In England each council designs its own scheme for working-age people, but pensioners are covered by the national pensioner rules, where savings over £16,000 normally rule a claim out unless you get Pension Credit Guarantee Credit.

Wales has its own scheme, covered in the Welsh guidance, and so does Scotland, on mygov.scot. In Northern Ireland the help is Rate Rebate.

How Much Support Can You Get?

Up to the whole bill, depending on your income, savings, who lives with you and your council's scheme.

How to Claim a Council Tax Exemption

You can claim from the council where the property is as soon as the home qualifies. A claim in England goes like this:

1. Work out the route: exemption, discount, Support or premium exception. The council decides all four.
2. Find the council through the GOV.UK council finder (England and Wales).
3. Send evidence for that class, such as the grant date for probate or dated photos of repairs.
4. Take a band or removal question to the Valuation Office, not the council, using its removal guidance.

If the council turns you down, the plain English guide says to write to it explaining why you think the bill is wrong. It has two months to reply, and the original bill stays due until a new one arrives. You can then appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for England within two months of the council's decision, or within four months of first writing to the council if it hasn't replied.

Wales has its own Valuation Tribunal, named in the Welsh premiums guidance, and mygov.scot's bill page points Scottish appeals to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.

The government's April 2026 letter sets out changes in England that are announced but not yet law:

• from April 2028, 12 monthly payments by default for all households. The October 2026 letter says people who become liable from April 2027 can ask to pay over 12 months, but councils aren't expected to switch them to that schedule automatically
• from April 2027, households get at least 63 days after the first missed payment before losing the right to pay in instalments
• from April 2027, councils can add no more than £100 in costs when seeking a liability order, a court order to recover unpaid council tax
• from April 2028, a surcharge on high-value homes

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