Who pays the council tax on a rented property?

The tenant pays, in almost every ordinary let. Section 6 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 puts an adult living in the property above the landlord in a fixed order, so a tenant in occupation is liable and a clause in the agreement cannot change that. The landlord pays in two cases: houses in multiple occupation, and any period when nobody is resident.

The order of liability

Section 6(1) makes the liable person "the person who falls within the first paragraph of subsection (2) below to apply, taking paragraph (a) of that subsection first, paragraph (b) next, and so on." The first rung occupied wins. Subsection (2): a resident freeholder; a resident leaseholder; a resident statutory, secure or introductory tenant; a resident with a contractual licence; then "he is such a resident" — any other resident; and last, "he is the owner of the dwelling."

A resident is "an individual who has attained the age of 18 years and has his sole or main residence in the dwelling". The owner is the person with a material interest not subject to an inferior one — which, since section 28 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025, includes "a tenancy that is or was previously an assured tenancy".

So the tenant reaches paragraph (e) and the landlord never gets to paragraph (f). Where people share a rung, section 6(3) makes them "jointly and severally liable" — with a joint tenancy, any one sharer can be pursued for the whole bill.

When the owner pays regardless

Section 8 prescribes classes where, instead of section 6, "the owner of the dwelling shall be liable to pay the council tax". They sit in the Council Tax (Liability for Owners) Regulations 1992: care homes, religious communities, resident domestic staff, ministers of religion, asylum-seeker accommodation, and — the one that bites for private landlords — Class C, houses in multiple occupation.

HMOs, and the date everyone gets wrong

The instrument is the Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings and Liability for Owners) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1175), made 2 November 2023: "These Regulations come into force on 1st December 2023." Not April 2023.

It inserted article 3C into the Chargeable Dwellings Order 1992 — "For the purposes of Part 1 of the Act, an HMO must be treated as a single dwelling" — ending the banding of individual rooms, and added a limb to Class C, which now catches a dwelling that "is an HMO."

An HMO here means a building or part of a building which is a house in multiple occupation "as defined by section 254 of the Housing Act 2004 but as if subsections (1)(e) and (5) of that section were omitted". Omitting (1)(e) takes out section 257 converted blocks of flats, which keep their own bands. Omitting (5) disapplies the Schedule 14 exemptions: GOV.UK's Council Tax information letter 3/2023 says "these exemptions have not therefore been carried over into the new regulations."

Nothing in that mentions five occupiers. Licensing is a separate test: the 2018 Prescribed Description Order catches an HMO "occupied by five or more persons" in two or more households. A three-person, three-household sharer house needing no licence can still be an HMO for council tax. The 2023 regulations, in the letter's words, "ensure that council tax liability rests with the landlords of HMOs covered by the regulations." Let room by room and the bill is yours: price it in. See duties after an HMO licence and Article 4 and licensing in Manchester.

Empty periods between tenancies

Once nobody is resident, liability drops to paragraph (f) and lands on you. There is no national void discount — "You'll usually have to pay Council Tax on an empty home, but your council can decide to give you a discount - the amount is up to them" — so ask your billing authority.

The premium is national. Section 11B(8) defines a long-term empty dwelling as one that, "for a continuous period of at least 1 year ending with that day", has been "unoccupied" and "substantially unfurnished". That was two years until section 79 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 substituted one year, with effect "for financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2024". The maximum premium a council may add is 100% after one year, 200% after five and 300% after ten — hence GOV.UK's "up to 4 times your normal Council Tax bill" on a ten-year empty.

A furnished void sits outside the premium, since both limbs must be met; and a brief reoccupation does not reset the clock, because "no account is to be taken of any one or more periods of not more than 6 weeks".

Students

A full-time student is disregarded under paragraph 4 of Schedule 1, and where every resident is a student the dwelling is exempt under Class N of the Exempt Dwellings Order 1992 — one "occupied by one or more residents all of whom are relevant persons", or occupied "as term time accommodation". The course must "last at least 1 year" and "involve at least 21 hours study per week".

Collect each student's certificate at the start. Paragraph 5 obliges an institution to supply one "on request", but it "may refuse to comply with a request made more than one year after the person making it has ceased to follow a course". One non-student and the exemption goes; in an HMO the paperwork is your problem either way.

The agreement, and its limits

Make the tenant responsible for council tax from the start of the term to the end. The clause fixes the expectation and gives you a contractual claim. What it cannot do is move the statutory liability: the council bills whoever section 6 or section 8 says is liable, and does not read your agreement. On an HMO, such a clause only gives you a debt to chase. Keep it consistent with the pre-move-in pack.

Telling the council

At the start, send the address, tenant names, start date and the agreement; at the end, the end date, final meter readings and a forwarding address. Keep the sent copy: most disputed void bills are arguments about dates.

There is also a duty: told of an assumption about a discount or premium and having reason to believe it wrong, you must notify the authority in writing under regulation 16 of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 "within the period of 21 days beginning on the day on which he first has reason so to believe". Letting a student exemption run on after the students leave is the usual way landlords fall foul of it.

General information, current at October 2026, and not legal or tax advice. Policy on void discounts and premiums varies by authority — confirm with your local council or on GOV.UK before relying on any figure.

To have your void periods and HMO liability checked before the next tenancy, ring 0161 710 4510 or call in at 12–14 Midland Street, Manchester M12 6LB. See our fees and tenant-find or fully managed.