Apply for a diplomat exemption (Class V)

A property is exempt if a person responsible for paying council tax has a diplomatic privilege or immunity.

Before you start

Apply if:

  • It is the main residence in the United Kingdom of at least one person who has a diplomatic privilege or immunity 
  • The diplomatic privilege is given by the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964, the Commonwealth Secretariat Act 1966, the Consular Relations Act 1968 or the Commonwealth Countries and Republic of Ireland (Immunities and Privileges) Order 1985. Persons within a class mentioned in relation to a specific organisation in the International Organisations Act 1968 also qualify as a person who is head of an office established in the Hong Kong Trade Act 1946
  • The person must not be a British subject, a British citizen, a British Dependent Territories Citizen, a British National (Overseas, a British Overseas Citizen, a British protected person or a permanent resident in the United Kingdom.  

The exemption will not apply if another person resides at the property who has a higher legal interest in it. For example, a property where the resident owner lets a room to a diplomat will not be exempt from council tax.

You will need

You may upload any documents that support your claim.

This may include your Form 3 (formerly known as form TX19, TX31 AND TX35). This should be stamped both by your mission and by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Uploading supporting documents

We may ask you to upload some documents.  

  • Accepted file types: Word (docx), Acrobat (pdf), Excel (xlsx), Plain text (txt)
  • Zip files cannot be uploaded
  • We also accept photos taken on phones and tablets and the following image file types - jpeg, gif, png
  • There is a maximum individual file size per document of 50MB

What happens next

We aim to give you an answer within 10 working days. Please check My Account for updates. We will either send you a new bill or let you know why we cannot.

While you are waiting for a decision, please carry on paying the amount of council tax shown in your last bill.

This form should take approximately four minutes to complete.

Start form