Who pays Council Tax?
Council Tax is a property-based charge with only one bill for each household.
Who has to pay Council Tax?
You could be liable to pay Council Tax for your home if you are one of the following:
- resident and the owner
- resident and a tenant
- owner if the property is not someone's sole or main residence
The landlord is liable for the council tax on a house of multiple occupations. A dwelling is considered to be a house of multiple occupation for Council Tax purposes if the tenants occupy only part of the dwelling and share the facilities such as kitchen and bathroom.
People are jointly liable to pay if they are married, live together, joint owners or joint tenants.
How much do you need to pay?
The amount payable will depend on the value band the property is placed into by the Valuation Office Agency of HMRC. You can find out the valuation band of a property by using this online tool. These explanatory notes are included with your Council Tax bill:
Find out more about the Greater London Authority portion of Council Tax and this year's Budget information for the financial year 2024/25:
London Pensions Fund Levy
The London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) raises a yearly levy to meet expenditure on premature retirement compensation and outstanding personnel matters for which LPFA is responsible and cannot charge to the pension fund. These payments relate to former employees of the Greater London Council (GLC), the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) and the London Residuary Body (LRB).
For 2024/25, the income to be raised by levies is set out below.
The Greater London levy is payable in all boroughs, and the Inner London levy is only in Inner London Boroughs (including the City of London). The figures show the total to be raised.
- Inner London: £14,610,794
- Greater London: £6,044,529
- Total: £20,655,323
Adult social care offer
The Secretary of State made an offer to adult social care authorities ("Adult social care authorities" are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly).
The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional “precept” on its council tax without holding a referendum to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016/17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019/20. If the Secretary of State chooses to renew this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons. This has occurred in relation to the financial year 2020/21 and each financial year since, including 2024/25.
Published: 16 February 2021
Last updated: 21 March 2024
