If you live alone, you may be entitled to a 25% reduction on your Council Tax bill. This is called single person discount and is available where only one adult is counted as living in a property as their sole or main residence.
For Council Tax purposes, an adult is anyone aged 18 or over.
You will normally qualify if:
- You are the sole occupier of the property over the age of 18
- Your 18 year old student child normally lives with you but is staying in halls of residence during their study term.
- You are temporarily absent from the property but there is an intention to return.
You will not normally qualify if:
- A spouse, partner, or adult child lives with you, even if they work away most of the week. They are usually still treated as living at your address as their main or sole residence. This includes those in the armed forces working away.
- You share the property with another adult who is not disregarded (for example, a friend or lodger who is not a student or carer).
- Your property is empty and unfurnished or classed as a second home.
- A spouse partner or adult child normally lives with you and they are temporarily absent but have an intention to return to the property (for example, an adult child who is away travelling).
Sole or main residence
In general:
- Sole residence means you only have one home.
- Main residence means the home where you live most of the time and have the strongest connection, even if you have more than one address.
Someone staying with you temporarily (for example, on holiday) is not automatically treated as a resident, but if they stay with you because they have nowhere else to live, they are likely to be treated as living with you.
Where there is any doubt about which property is your main home, we will look at your overall circumstances.
We may consider factors such as:
- Reason for having more than one address.
- Where your spouse, civil partner, or partner lives.
- Where you spend most of your time.
- Where your personal belongings are kept.
- Which address you use for official purposes.
No single factor is decisive - we look at the whole picture to decide which property is your main residence.
You must tell us within 21 days if:
- Another adult moves in (for example, a partner, friend, or lodger).
- Someone in your home stops being disregarded (for example, a student finishes their course)
- You move home or your main residence changes.
If your circumstances change and you no longer qualify, your discount will be removed and your bill updated. If you fail to tell us, you may be billed for backdated Council Tax and could face a penalty of £70.
We have a duty to ensure our Council Tax records are accurate and reflect the current situation, so we review all single person discounts each year. As part of the annual review of discounts, Council Tax data is matched with other records including credit reference agencies to confirm if your situation has changed.
Herefordshire Council will not accept deliberate manipulation or fraud. Any instances will be actively investigated and any individual who falsifies their records or dishonestly provides inaccurate information may face prosecution.