Council Tax Explained and Bandings

What is Council Tax?
Council tax is a system of local taxation collected by local authorities. It is a tax on domestic property. Generally, the bigger the property is, the more tax will be charged. 

Each year, your local council sets the council tax rate they need to charge to cover some costs. The Council tax helps pay for services such as schools, parks, street cleaning and the police. 

Council Tax is charged on all domestic properties, with the amount payable being calculated according to the valuation band in which the property has been placed.

What are the Valuation bands?
Each local authority keeps a list of all the domestic property in its area. This is called the valuation list.
Every domestic property has a council tax band and each property is allocated a valuation band based on the capital value of the property. A different amount of council tax is then charged on each band. 

The Council Tax band of a property is not related to its current market value. This is because, by law, council tax valuations are based on the price a property would have fetched if it had been sold on 1 April 1991. For Wales, the valuation date is 1 April 2003 as a revaluation was undertaken during 2004 by the Valuation Office Agency of Welsh properties. This is effective since April 2005. 

The Valuation Bands place properties in eight categories (each category relating to a range of property sales value), going from Band A being for the cheapest properties, to Band H (or Band I for Wales only) being for the most expensive ones).

Valuation Bands for England
Property Band Market value range of property (as at 1 April 1991)

Band A     Up to £40,000
Band B     £40,001 to £52,000
Band C     £52,001 to £68,000
Band D     £68,001 to £88,000
Band E     £88,001 to £120,000
Band F     £120,001 to £160,000
Band G    £160,001 to £320,000
Band H    Exceeding £320,001
(These values reflect the open market value (subject to assumptions) as at 1 April 1991)

Valuation Bands for Wales
Property Band Market value range of property (as at 1 April 2003)

Band A    Up to £44,000
Band B    £44,001 to £65,000
Band C   £65,001 to £91,000
Band D   £91,001 to £123,000
Band E   £123,001 to £162,000
Band F   £162,001 to £223,000
Band G   £223,001 to £324,000
Band H   £324,001 to £424,000
Band H   Exceeding £424,001
(These values reflect the open market value (subject to assumptions) as at 1 April 2003)

Valuation Bands for Scotland
Property Band Market value range of property (as at 1 April 1991)

Band A Up to £27,000
Band B   £27,001 to £35,000
Band C   £35,001 to £45,000
Band D   £45,001 to £58,000
Band E   £58,001 to £80,000
Band F   £80,001 to £106,000
Band G  £106,001 to £212,000
Band H  Exceeding £212,001
(These values reflect the open market value (subject to assumptions) as at 1 April 1991)

How to find what band your dwelling is in?
To find out what band a dwelling is in you can:
Inspect a copy of the valuation list (A copy of the valuation list is kept at the local authority's main offices and is available for public inspection. Local authorities may also make the list available in other offices, including libraries. You can look at and make copies of the valuation list at the local authority's office or at the local valuation office. There may be a small charge. 

Look at the council tax banding lists published on the internet by the Valuation Office Agency at www.voa.gov.uk for England and Wales, or by the Scottish Assessors Association at www.ssa.gov.uk for Scotland.
Check with your local authority in advance of receiving a council tax bill if you are the liable person, you can also find the valuation band from the council tax bill or from an alteration to the valuation list by the listing officer (for more information about who is a liable person see under heading Who has to pay council tax?).

Exemptions
Some property is exempt from council tax altogether. It may be exempt for only a short period, for example, six months, or for a longer time. 

Some of these exemptions depends on who occupies a property (for example if it is occupied only by full-time students). Other exemptions will depend on the actual property (if it is uninhabitable, for example).
The complete list of the types of exemptions that are available are listed on the booklet enclosed with your bill.
In addition, in Scotland, the following properties are also exempt:
- unoccupied agricultural dwellings 
- housing association ‘trial’ housing
- a building owned by a registered social landlord which is waiting for demolition.
- If you think that your property should be exempt, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau.

Who has to pay Council Tax?
Usually one person, called the liable person, is liable to pay council tax. Nobody under the age of 18 can be a liable person. A man and woman living together will both be liable, even if there is only one name on the bill.
Usually, the person living in a property will be the liable person, but sometimes it will be the owner of the property who will be liable to pay. 
The owner will be liable if:
- the property is in multiple occupation, for example, a house lived in by a number of people who all pay rent, but no-one is responsible for paying the whole of the rent; or
- the people who live in the property are all under the age of 18; or
- the people who live in the property are all asylum seekers who are not entitled to claim benefits including council tax benefit; or
- the people who are staying in the property have their main homes somewhere else; or
- the property is a care home. 

If only one person lives in a property they will be the liable person. If more than one person lives there, a system called the hierarchy of liability is used to work out who is the liable person. The person at the top, or nearest to the top, of the hierarchy is the liable person. Two people at the same point of the hierarchy will both be liable. 

The hierarchy of liability in England and Wales is:
- a resident who lives in the property and who owns the freehold
- a resident who lives in the property and who has a lease or who is an assured or an assured short-hold tenant
- a resident who lives in the property and who is a protected, statutory or a secure tenant
- a resident who lives in the property and who is a licensee. This means that they are not a tenant, but have permission to stay there
- any resident living in the property, for example, a squatter
- an owner of the property who does not live there. 

The hierarchy of liability in Scotland is:
- a resident who owns all or part of the dwelling
- a resident who is a tenant of all or part of the dwelling
- a resident who is a statutory, statutory assured, or secure tenant of all or part of the dwelling
- a resident who is a sub-tenant of all or part of the dwelling
- a resident with no security of tenure
- a non-resident owner of any part of the dwelling unless there is a non- resident tenant or sub-tenant who has a lease (or sub-lease) of six months or more.

Discounts
Each year, every local authority will set a rate of council tax for each valuation band. Not everyone will have to pay the full amount of council tax. There are three ways in which your council tax bill may be reduced. These are:
the reduction scheme for disabled people council tax benefit: A person who is liable to pay council tax may be able to claim Council Tax Benefit. The amount of benefit they may get will depend on their income and capital.
second adult rebate: If you have someone living with you who is not liable to pay the council tax on your property, you may be able to claim a benefit called a ‘second adult rebate’. You will not be able to claim a second adult rebate as well as Council Tax Benefit. If you are entitled to both, you will receive whichever is the higher.
Holiday homes: Second or holiday homes in England and Scotland will be liable for council tax but will have a 10% - 50% discount because no one lives there. 

If only one person lives in a property they will get a 25% discount on the council tax bill. When working out how many people live in a property, some people are not counted. These are called disregarded people. If everyone who lives in the property is disregarded, there will still be a council tax bill, but there will be a 50% discount. The list of disregarded people is available on www.voa.gov.uk for England and Wales and on www.ssa.gov.uk

How to appeal against a charge?
An appeal must be made to either the Valuation Office Agency ( or the Assessor’s Department in Scotland) or the local authority depending on what it is about. 

Appeals can be made to the valuation office about:
- whether or not the property should be on the valuation list
- which valuation band the property is in
- in a property which is partly domestic and partly business, what proportion of the property is domestic. 

Appeals can be made to the local authority about:
- whether or not someone is a liable person. This includes someone who is jointly liable because there are two or more people on the same level of the hierarchy or someone is jointly liable because they are one of a couple
- whether or not the property is exempt
- whether or not a discount applies and how much it is
- whether or not the reduction scheme for people with disabilities applies.

In order to appeal you must first make a proposal to the valuation office saying what you think should be changed and why. If the valuation office do not agree to the changes, the proposal automatically becomes an appeal and is heard by a valuation tribunal (Valuation Appeal Committee in Scotland)