Council Tax - Students
Students in full-time education are exempt from payment of Council Tax. The qualifying criteria are as follows:
Higher Education
It must be a full-time course, undertaken at a prescribed education establishment (eg univeristy, polytechnic or theological college). The course must last for at least one academic or calendar year. Attendance is required 24 weeks a year, for at least 21 hours a week.
Further Education
The student must be under the age of 20. The course must last at least three months and the student must attend at least 12 hours a week for supervised study or examination. The course should not be done by correspondence and should be carried out between 8.30am and 5.30pm.
Student Nurses
If not in full-time education, the course that the student attends must lead to an appropriate registration under section 10 of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1979.
Discounts also exist for Apprentices, Youth Trainiees and Foreign Language Assistants.
Discount Exemptions
* If all the residents fall under any of the previous categories, they may be entitled to an exemption.* If the the property is occupied by both students and one non-student, then a reduction of 25% may apply.
* If there are two or more people who are not students and who do not fall into another disregard category, there is no discounts and all non-students are liable to pay the bill.
Liability
Changes to the regulations effective from 1st April 2004 mean that if a student shares a joint tenancy with a non-student, then the non-student is solely liable for any Council Tax payable on the property. The student no longer has any legal obligation to pay the tax.
Students and Landlord
If the person liable to pay the bill is the student, they must provide proof of student status. If the person liable to py the bill is the Landlord and they wish to make a claim for a reduction, they should provide the names of all the students and the dates they moved into the property. The student must provide proof of their status from their educational establishment.
In all cases, the student certificate obtained from the educational establishment must be provided together with a covering letter from the person liable to pay the bill.