Exempt properties

Some dwellings may be exempt from council tax or exempt for up to six months, depending on the reason they are empty or the special circumstances of the people who live in them. These are:

• Unoccupied furnished properties owned by a charity (exempt for up to six months)
• Properties which are left empty by an owner or leaseholder who has gone to prison
• Properties which are left empty by someone resident in a nursing/care home or hospital
• Properties where owner/tenant has died and there is less than 6 months since probate or letters of administration were granted
• Properties which are empty because their occupation is forbidden by law
• Properties which are waiting to be occupied by a minister of religion
• Properties which are left empty by someone who has moved elsewhere to receive non-institutional care
• Properties which are left empty by someone who has moved in order to provide personal care to another person
• Unoccupied properties where the owner and last resident is a student
• Properties which have been repossessed
• Student halls of residence
• Properties occupied only by students
• Armed forces accommodation owned by the Secretary of State for Defence
• Accommodation for members of visiting forces
• Properties which are left empty by someone who is bankrupt and which are the responsibility of the bankrupt's trustee
• A dwelling consisting of a pitch or a mooring which is not occupied by a caravan or, as the case may be, a boat
• Properties that are occupied solely by people under 18 years of age
• Properties unoccupied which form part of another dwelling but cannot be let separately
• Properties where all the residents are severely mentally impaired
• Properties occupied by diplomats as their main home in the UK
• Self contained annex occupied by a relation of the main dwelling aged over 65 or disabled or severely mentally impaired

If you think your property may be exempt please contact our Council Tax team as soon as possible.