Apply for a Council Tax exemption for a property occupied by students as halls of residence

A home is exempt from paying Council Tax when it is provided mainly for students to live in, and is either:

• owned or managed by an educational institution or charity, or
• an educational institution can nominate students to live in all of the accommodation.

About the exemption

The student or students must be in one of the following groups:

Group 1

Under the age of 20 years old and undertaking a course of further education which is at least 3 months long, and:

• involves at least 12 hours instruction, tuition, and/or supervised study per week, and
• is not a correspondence course
• is not undertaken in connection with a job
• is not an evening class

Group 2

Attending a University, Polytechnic or College and undertaking a full-time education course which is:

• at least one year long, and
• requires the student to undertake at least 24 weeks study a year, and
• requires the student to study at least an average of 21 hours per week throughout the 24 week period. For students who are doing teacher training, time spent doing teaching practice is counted as hours of study

Group 3

Foreign language assistants who are:

• registered with The Central Bureau of Educational Visits & Exchange, and
• working as a foreign language assistant at a school or other educational institution in Great Britain

The property will be exempt as long as the circumstances remain the same

You must tell us about any changes that affect the exemption, for example if someone who is not a student moves in.

You will need

• Your Council Tax account number
• An official letter confirming the property is held for occupation by students as halls of residence

Before you start

This form is for new applications only.

Do not complete this form if you:

• Already receive this discount - please reapply when you receive a review letter
• Want to tell us about a change to your circumstances

Your personal information provided on this form will be used in accordance with the Council’s Personal Information Policy.

What happens next

We will either reduce the bill or let you know why we have not been able to do so.

If we need more information we will contact you.

Start my application

Medium - This form usually takes a few minutes to complete