Canadian living in the midlands.. how does council tax work?

9 comments

1. How are you sharing? Is it an HMO, or are you two or more people renting together on a tenancy as one household?

   There is a good explanation [here](https://anthonygold.co.uk/latest/blog/i-landlord-house-multiple-occupation-i-liable-pay-council-tax).

2. It’s a band system. Depending on how much your home is worth will depend on how much you pay. If you’re living in shared accommodation you’ll usually split the total with your housemates. It’s usually paid monthly but I think you can make a one of payment

3. Sometimes it’s included in the rent, especially if it’s a shared house.

   Google “[your town] council tax”

   The local authority will have a detailed website about the tax and how to pay it.

   I would say that £1500 is at the high end, usually it’s a bit less. And the tax is paid for the property not per person.

4. Shared houses you’d have it covered as a part of the rent paid to the landlord or in some cases everyone contributes and one person arranges the payment.

5. Your local council’s website will have details on how to get it set up. If you’re moving into a shared home with people who already live there then they should already have an account and you should just be able to set up a direct debit to whichever flatmate pays it.

   You have to pay it if you live in a shared home, unless you have an exemption like you’re all students or something.

   £1,500 a year is about the average, yeah.

6. Council tax is paid by the household and is based on the value of the house. It’s split into “bands”.

   If you’re renting (I assume you’re in a house share) your landlord or agency should have told you what the arrangement is.

   Some landlords cover the council tax and include it in the rent, some leave paying it to you.

   If you live in a house share and haven’t heard anything about it in 6 months I’d assume its covered as part of rent, but ask your housemates just to be sure.

   For context my council tax is about £1000 a year and I’m in Band B (the second lowest).

7. The tax is on the property, not the residents. It’s usually paid monthly via direct debit. Each property is given a “banding” which dictates how much tax is due. Generally speaking, expensive property = more tax.

   If two or more adults who aren’t students live there, the property is due for 100% council tax.
   If it’s a shared house you rent as a group with one tenancy agreement, you (and your housemates) are responsible for the council tax. If it’s a HMO (house of multiple occupancy) where you all have individual tenancy agreements with a landlord, your landlord is responsible for the tax and will most likely already be including it in your rent.

8. you pay 1-2k a year and they might pick up your bins, good deal

9. It’s a bit like property tax in Canada. It covers essential services provided by your local council including bin collection and road maintenance. Council tax amounts are split into bands (A to H, lowest to highest). The amount charged in each band depends on the council, so a band C property in Manchester maybe charged less than a band C in Nottingham for example. Bands are based on the property value set against a baseline equivalent taken in 1991. In other words, a 3-bed detached house in the same area as another 3-bed detached house should be in the same band.

   It’s not precise at all and leads to the council often putting new builds onto much higher council tax bands than they really should be in my opinion. Case in point, our newly build 4-bed detached was initially put into band G. We appealed and it went to an F, but that was still a band higher than equivalent homes in our area so we appealed again. It got to the point where we would present our argument to a tribunal and a few weeks before that they conceded and moved us to band E.