How does council tax work when living with students that dont?

Question

Im going to hopefully be moving into a house along with around 7 full time students who will be exempt from paying it, although I will be going into full time work.

How does this affect the amount that would have to be paid?

Its in the Brighton area if that affects anything.

Cheers!

Answer 1

You'll have to pay council tax.  Unless you can some how live there anonymously?

The landlord may already be paying the tax?

Answer 2

I'm not sure if Joker meant there have to be more then five of you or not. There's no limit to how many people live there, if you have separate tenancy agreements to rent a room or part of the house, and not a joint tenancy for all eight of you to rent the whole house together, the property would be classed as HMO - a House in Multiple Occupation, and the landlord would be liable. He would pay a 75% charge .

If you have a joint tenancy agreement between the eight of you, you have all rented the house together, then you will be the liable party and you will receive the 25% discount as the only chargeable party.

Find out if the property is HMO and make sure the landlord is happy for you to move in. Lots of student landlords with HMO properties will not take non-students because it means they have to pay council tax.

Answer 3

If you are all sharing a flat and there are more than 5 of you, living separately but sharing amenities you are classed as a multi occupancy tenancy. for which you landlord must have a licences. In Multi Occupancy tenancies the owner of the dwelling is liable for the council tax not the tenants, they usually make this up be charging the tenant a slightly higher rent.

Answer 4

It doesn't seem very fair but you still have to pay. As your housemates are exempt you can apply for single occupancy. This means instead of paying 100% of the council tax due on the property you will pay 75%. Generally speaking in the UK the tenant is responsible for all bills including council tax, although this completely depends on your tenancy agreement. In a student area in partiocular there is no way your landlord will have factored in council tax as part of your rent. For an 8-bedroom house this could be £200 - £300 a month to pay on your own.

However..... if you are living in a student area it is worth considering leaving it until the council chase you. I know it's wrong but I did it the year I finished uni. If it's a student area the council are very unlikely to even bother sending out forms to check for exemptions etc - they didn't in the 3 years I lived in a student area anyway. And remember the council are fairly useless at pursuing anything - ie: they send out rubbish photocopied court summons as a threat if you forget to pay for a bit but they mean nothing as long as you pay. And as long as you pay before it ever gets to a serious stage it won't harm your credit rating.

Re the comment above - i think that only applies if you each have a separate tenancy agreement. In practise nearly all tenancy agreements are joint between all of you  - in which case the tenants are usually liable.

Answer 5

Council Tax is paid by the house OWNER .. however if the owner is renting it out, they MAY have included the Council Tax in the Rent or they MAY expect you to pay that bill yourself (same applies to utilities, phone etc) ...

You better hope that the landlord is including it in the rent, because you can be sure the 7 students are going to expect you to pay 100% yourself :-)

Answer 6

if ur the only person living in house of students then u will have to pay the bill yrself they are exempt, u will get a 25% discount for being the only person liable to pay in the house and if ur on a low income u can get housing/council tax benefit.   this is a very good reason not to move into a house full of students.