You may not have to pay council tax if no one lives in a home because the person who used to live there now lives full-time in a hospital, nursing home or care home.
If they were renting the home, the council tax will no need to be paid until the end of the tenancy.
Before you start
You can apply if:
- no-one lives in the property
- the person who used to live there now lives in a hospital, nursing home or a residential care home
- the empty home was their main home before they moved
You may not get the exemption if the person is only staying in the hospital or care home for a short time or plans to move back.
If someone goes to a care home after being in hospital, the council might be able to count the hospital stay as the start of the exemption.
You will need
- Council tax account number (if known)
- Address of property
- Letter from the nursing home (if available)
Uploading supporting documents
We may ask you to send us some documents. You can send:
- Word files (.docx)
- PDF files (.pdf)
- Excel files (.xlsx)
- Text files (.txt)
- Pictures from phones or tablets:
- JPEG (.jpg)
- GIF (.gif)
- PNG (.png)
As long as the file is smaller than 50MB. You cannot upload zip files.
What happens next
We will:
- write to the home to check
- try to give you an answer within 10 working days (it may take longer if we are waiting for a reply from the hospital or care home)
- either reduce your bill or let you know why we cannot
You can check My Account for updates. While you wait, please keep paying the council tax shown on your last bill.
This form should take about 6 minutes to complete.