Council tax liability query

Hi all,

I have a query regarding a client’s council tax liability:

He is a student, living in a rented property with a housemate. Housemate’s parents own the property and are landlords. They are both students and therefore the property is currently exempted from council tax liability. However housemate’s boyfriend is basically living at the property- he is there most days. He is not on the tenancy, and does not pay rent, although he does apparently contribute towards some bills. He is still officially resident with his parents, and is registered for council tax/electoral roll there. He is not a student.

My client has received a letter requesting information about who lives at the property, and is quite anxious about whether he needs to state that housemate’s boyfriend is resident, and therefore lose the exemption.

Is the boyfriend liable here? My initial instinct would be no as he is not on tenancy/has main residence elsewhere. Is this correct? Does the client need to provide information about the boyfriend?

Thanks in advance! :-)

There is a heirarchy for liability -

- a resident owner-occupier who owns either the leasehold or freehold of all or part of the property
- a resident tenant
- a resident who lives in the property and who is a licensee - this means that they are not a tenant, but have permission to stay there
- any resident living in the property, for example, a squatter
- an owner of the property where no one is resident.

So he’s not liable himself. But he could affect the exemption for the others if he’s not a student. But if he has a home elsewhere and he is registered there for council tax then that is his main home even if he chooses to stay away a lot - that’s my view

why not get housemate to fill the form in , since it’s house mates boyfriend that’s the issue and housemate’s parents that own the property?

Thanks everyone, really useful!