Council tax and armed forces please.....

[purplepeony]

Can anyone help?
My DD might be continuing to stay in a flat when she has finished uni. She will then have to pay Council Tax. If another sharer, who is commissioned into the Army uses the flat during his free weekends etc, would he also have to pay towards it, or are the forces exempt?

My partner is in the army and we own a home and pay full council tax. If there is an exemption we've never heard of it -I'll watch this thread with interest in case anyone knows differently!

Will he be on the tenancy agreement?

Is it his sole/main residence where he has security of tenure and a right to return to the property?

Is he a student (albeit with a commission?)

In general, unless serving in Afghanistan, the Forces are not no how, no way exempt from Council Tax. I wish.

Thanks- he is currently a student- yr 3- and will we assume go into the army later this year commissioned, on pay. He wants to have a base outside barracks that is not his parent's home.

If he does have to pay C Tax it would be better for my DD as otherwise she'd have to find it all herself. There would be 4 in the flat- 2 students, my DD and him. He would have the 4th share of the lease although the flat is owned by a mum of one of the students. Theye all sign a 12 month lease.

Full CTAX would be payable if he signs a tenancy agreement.

If they have individual tenancy agreements for their own portion of the rent rather than one joint one and thus jointly and severally liable for the whole rent, then I think the property becomes a house in multiple occupation and the owner becomes liable. If the former, they have the right to occupy their own room and areas in common; if the latter they are renting the entirety of the property.

If he wasn't there your daughter would be liable for 75% CTAX if the others were f/t students, although the same would apply as above re tenancy agreements.

Hope that helps.

THanks- I am not sure what the lease agreement is- the flat belongs to the other student's mum - I know my daughter had to sign a lease, so assume it is her part of a joint lease. I didn't realise that there was any difference between leases and whether that meant the owner paid CTAX in some instances.

There is something called the Hierarchy of Liability which spells out who is liable for the CTAX.

See below:

Hierarchy of liability

If more than one person lives in a property, we use a system called the Hierarchy of Liability to work out who has to pay the council tax.

The person nearest to the top of the hierarchy is the person who has to pay.

Two people at the same point of the hierarchy have the same responsibility to pay. If no one lives in the property then the owner has to pay the council tax.

• A resident who owns the freehold
• A resident who owns the leasehold
• A resident who is an assured tenant or is a statutory or secure tenant
• A resident who is a licensee. This means that they are not a tenant but have permission to stay there
• Any resident, for example, a squatter
• An owner of the property who does not live there

There are some properties where the owner, rather than the residents, will be responsible for payment. The hierarchy does not apply to these properties. These properties are:

• Houses in multiple occupation, that is where the residents do not form a single household and pay their rent separately for different parts of the property. The tenants will usually have separate tenancy agreements.

Again, hope this is helpful.

Thanks ST.
Evidently they all have their own lease agreements. Looks as if best case will be my DD and new soldier will have to split CT between them.

If they do not have a joint tenancy, but pay their rent separately for different parts of the property, then it is classed as a HIMO and the owner is liable...see above, at the bottom.

Get your daughter to talk to the Local Authority - they will tell her what is what and bill accordingly. She needs to tell them what kind of tenancy agreements are in place.

Thanks- will get her to check.