Are the residents always liable?
In certain cases the owner, not the residents, has to pay the Council Tax. These cases are:
- Properties occupied by more than one household, where the households share facilities, such as cooking or washing
- Residential care homes, nursing homes (such as hospices), mental nursing homes or certain types of hostel providing a high level of care
- Religious communities such as Monasteries or Convents
- Properties which are not the owner's main home, but are the main home of a person or people who the owner employs in domestic service.
- Vicarage and other houses where a minister of religion lives and works
- Properties occupied by Asylum Seekers
If you live in one of these homes where the owner is liable, you do not have to pay the Council Tax. If your landlord is the liable person they may ask you to pay something towards the bill. This depends on the terms of your agreement with them.