Apply for an exemption for a property where everyone is a student (Class N)

Households where everyone is a student do not have to pay council tax and can apply for an exemption.

You can also get the exemption if a property is lived in by students and dependents from outside the European Economic Area, who have an immigration restriction on taking up work or claiming benefits while in the UK.

Before you start

To count as a student, you must be doing a full-time course at a university or college that: 

  • Lasts at least one year
  • Involves at least 24 weeks of study per year
  • Involves at least 21 hours of study per week.

If you are 18 or 19 in further education, your course must include at least 12 hours study per week.

You will need

A council tax certificate issued from the college or university for each student, confirming:

  • Name and address of the college or university
  • Full name of the student and date of birth
  • Details of course i.e. course name, start/end dates
  • Hours of study.

Please send evidence confirming the status of any non-EEA dependents living in the property.

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 check all claims for student reductions against internal and external records. We will also contact the college or university to verify student status.

We aim to give you an answer within 10 working days. It may take longer if we are waiting for a reply from the college or university. Please check My Account for updates.

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