Payment Responsibility
There are more than 48,000 domestic properties in the Ashford
Borough area and each one attracts a Council Tax charge.
It is the job of the Revenues Service to identify who
is responsible to pay Council Tax for each property.
Under Council Tax rules there can only be one bill to cover
a particular time period. Where there is more than one person
identified as being the liable person, they will all be named on
the bill.
It is important to note that in these cases each person named on
the bill is responsible for paying the full amount due, not just
their ‘share’ of it. If the bill is not paid in full the council
can take action to recover any overdue amounts from any of the
named persons.
The person(s) responsible for paying the Council Tax is whoever
comes first in the following list:
- A resident with a freehold interest in all
or part of the dwelling
- A resident with a leasehold interest in all
or part of the dwelling
- A resident who is a statutory or secure
tenant
- A resident who is a licensee
- A resident who does not fall within (1) to
(4)
- The owner
What if no one lives in the property?
The Council can grant a discount or exemption depending on
if there is any furniture in the property.
Where no one lives in a property and it is furnished then a
discounted charge will apply from the date the last person
leaves.
If no one lives in a property and it is unfurnished, the
property is exempt for up to six months from the date the
furniture is removed. After that a full charge is made.
If furniture is put into the property during the six month
exempt period the exemption will cease. If no one lives there you
will still be able to claim a discount.
A 10 per cent discount is given to furnished unoccupied
properties known as "second homes". Both exemptions and discounts
will cease if someone occupies the property.
Are there times when the owner is always
liable?
In some situations the owner rather than the
tenants of a property is always liable for Council Tax.
Owners of Care Homes, owners of properties occupied by religious
communities, owners of properties occupied by staff in domestic
service, properties occupied by serving Ministers of Religion,
owners of properties used to house Asylum Seekers.
More commonly, are those properties that are classed as Houses
in Multiple Occupation (HMO).
What is a HMO?
For Council Tax purposes a
HMO is a property that
has been built or adapted for tenants or licensees to live in who
are not living as a single household.
OR
A property whose occupants have a tenancy or licence to live
in only part of the property or who pays rent or a fee for only
part of the property.
Houses in Multiple Occupation
The decision whether a property has been structurally adapted or
purpose built for several households is a relatively
straightforward one, and can usually be made following a visit by
one of the Council’s Inspection Officers.
For most properties that fall under the HMO definition it is the
rental arrangements that determines whether the owner or landlord
or tenants are liable for Council Tax.
As a general rule a property will be classed as a HMO with the owner liable,
where each tenant has his or her own tenancy agreement and only
pays rent for part of the property. The tenants will be liable
where there is only one tenancy agreement, with all the tenants
names included for the whole of the property, and all of the rent
due. Sometimes this decision can only be made once all relevant
information is obtained from owners, agents or tenants, and there
may be occasions when you are asked to provide this
information.
You can help us make a quick decision by supplying this
information as soon as possible after it has been requested.
Joint Responsibility
Sometimes more than one person is responsible for paying
Council Tax, for example when two or more people live in the
property and jointly own, rent or lease it. The only time this does
not apply is when one is severely mentally impaired.
There will only be one bill for the property and
it may be addressed to one of the people responsible or to all of
them if all the names are known.
Joint responsibility also applies to a husband,
wife, civil partner or opposite sex partner of the person who
has to pay the bill providing they all live in the same property
even if they are not joint owners, leaseholders or tenants.
Bills cannot be split between joint Council Tax
payers, for example if three people live in the property, there
will only be one bill issued and not three bills for one third of
the council tax.
The Council cannot get involved in any
arrangements that people with joint responsibility have made
between themselves for payment and, if necessary will take legal
action against each one separately if the council tax is not paid.
This includes anyone who has paid, or been given full benefit for,
the amount they consider to be their 'share' of the bill.
Full Time Students
If a resident is a full time student and is
in the same liability category as another resident who is
not a full time student, the student is not jointly liable to pay
Council Tax. If a full time student is on a higher liability
category than the other residents and the other residents are not
students, the student is liable for the Council Tax.
This webpage was updated on 3/31/2008