Council tax is a tax paid to your local council for the delivery of local services.
It generally needs to be paid in respect of all domestic properties.
Your council tax bill will depend on what council tax band your property is placed in, and the level of council tax set each year by your local council.
There are eight bands, from A to H, based on the value of the property. The highest paying band is Band H, with the amounts charged going down progressively to the lowest paying band, Band A. The council tax band of your property is decided by the Valuation Office Agency.
Council Tax bills are based on a charge for each financial year which runs from 1 April to 31 March every year - your council tax liability is calculated on a daily basis.
The options below explain who has to pay, how to pay, what discounts and exemptions are available and what to do if your account is in credit:
Who has to pay?
You usually have to pay council tax if you are 18 or over and own or rent a home. While council tax is normally paid by the person living in a property, there are a few circumstances where the owner is responsible for paying council tax. For example:
- Empty homes
- Nursing homes and other similar homes.
- Houses in multiple occupation (where rooms are let individually)
If you are a tenant and think your landlord or somebody else should be paying Council Tax rather than you, you should contact us and seek further advice.
Usually at least one person over 18 living at a property is liable to pay the Council Tax.
In certain cases, more than one person may be jointly liable to pay the Council Tax, for example, joint owners, joint tenants, residents who are married, or live together as husband and wife, or civil partners.
If a number of people live in a property, there is a process for deciding the order of liability to pay the council tax
The order goes as follows:
- A resident owner-occupier who is the freeholder of all or part of the property,
- A resident owner-occupier who is the leaseholder of all or part of the property,
- A resident tenant,
- A resident who lives in the property and who is not a tenant, but has permission to stay there,
- Any other resident living in the property,
- A mortgagee in possession of an owner’s interest, and then
- An owner of the property where no one is resident.
If you move in or out during the year, your council tax liability is calculated on a daily basis.
Check you're paying the right level of Council Tax
This useful Plain English guide provides information on how your council tax bill is set, and how you can check that you are not paying more than you should.
Are you paying the right level of Council Tax?
Council Tax legality
Council tax is a tax paid to your local council for the delivery of local services. It generally needs to be paid in respect of all domestic properties.
As a Council, we have a duty to collect council tax, which was introduced by the Local Government Finance Act 1992 with effect from 1 April 1993. This is a statute created by a democratically elected Parliament of the United Kingdom, which subsequently received the assent of the Crown.
Your liability for council tax does not require consent or the existence of a contractual relationship with your local authority.
The Freeman of the Land movement and similar groups commonly believe that they are only bound by the contracts and laws that they have consented to. Contract law and alleged rights under common law are not the same as legislation relating to the billing and collection of Council Tax.
If you don’t pay your council tax on time, we will take legal action to collect the council tax you owe. In extreme cases this could lead to committal proceedings, or even a prison sentence, as in the Manchester Magistrates’ court vs McKenzie (2015) case, where a person attempted to use similar ‘freeman on the land’ defences in court and was sentenced to prison for 40 days.
If you have received a summons for non-payment of your council tax, you do have the right to attend the court and offer evidence as to why you aren’t liable for the council tax charges. However, you must have a legal defence to put to the Magistrates as to why you feel that you are not liable to pay the amount due.
We will always try to resolve debt problems at the earliest opportunity. This means telling people as soon as they have missed their first instalment and provide time for benefits and debt advice through referral to advice agencies. We would also encourage our customers to seek any entitlement to council tax support, housing benefit or credits and allowances from Central Government via the Department of Work and Pensions and HMRC.
If you are unable to meet your monthly instalments in full, we would recommend that you pay what you can afford to help reduce the balance. You must contact us immediately if you receive a court summons, so that we can discuss an affordable payment arrangement with you.
Legislation
The legislation that covers Council Tax is freely available on the governments website www.legislation.gov.uk including:-
- Local Government Finance Act 1992
- Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
- Council Tax (Demand Notices) (England) Regulations 2011
Local billing authorities have been collecting council tax in England since 1 April 1993, in line with the above legislation. There is no case law citing this legislation is unlawful.
Acts of Parliaments are Statutes set out the law. If you have questions regarding other Acts of Parliament or laws, these should be directed to a legal professional, not the council.
Here are the most common questions and statements we receive about the legality of Council Tax:
Please provide evidence that I am lawfully obliged to pay council tax
There is a process for determining the order of liability under Section 6-9 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.
Council tax is a statutory charge and therefore not contractual.
Please provide evidence that I have agreed to pay Council Tax and provide me with the lawful contract I have with you, with both of our signatures.
Some residents consider that Council Tax is a contract and requires a legal contract and signatures indicating an agreement. As mentioned above, Council Tax is a statutory charge, and a contract is not required.
Therefore, any reference to the Companies Act, Contracts Act, Bills of Exchange Act or other acts regarding companies or contracts is irrelevant to your council tax liability.
Provide evidence that you have the lawful and contractual authority to use the legal fictional name of “XXX” for the purposes of making money.
Council tax is charged and is payable by whoever the liable party is, which is determined under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.
Whether a name is legal or fictional is irrelevant for the purposes of Council Tax.
Provide confirmation the debt exists lawfully.
The issue of a Council Tax Demand Notice (the bill) creates the debt. A signature or agreement from a resident is not necessary for Council Tax, it is a tax, not a contract.
Provide a bill that complies with the Bills of Exchange Act 1882
Council tax bills are issued in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.
I’m a Freeman of the Land and I am not liable to pay Council Tax
Considering yourself to be a Freeman of the Land does not mean you can choose which laws you adhere to and which law you can choose to ignore.
Provide documents containing a wet ink signature.
A signature is not necessary for the billing and collection of council tax. A wet ink signature is not mandatory on a court summons.
The Magistrates Courts (Amendment) Rules 2019 removed the requirement for a signature on a Court summons. Previous case law has clarified that the use of a rubber stamp or an electronic signature are both valid for the purpose of the court signing a summons.
I won’t accept correspondence that isn’t signed, agreed with or I haven’t got a contract with.
Anyone who ignores Council Tax communications or withholds their payment, will have recovery action taken against them. As explained, there is no requirement for your consent, agreement, or a contract to be liable for Council Tax.
The summons isn’t legal because it wasn’t issued by the Court.
It is the responsibility of the person applying for a summons to serve it on the respondent. This is in accordance with the Magistrates Court Rules 1981. There is no agreement between the courts and Local Authorities to do this, as it is the legal duty of the Local Authority. Therefore, the summons is issued by the court, but printed on their behalf, and posted by the Local Authority.
I want a copy of the liability order
The prescribed format for a liability order was deleted in England by SI 2003/2211 with effect from 1 October 2003 - The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Amendment) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2003 (legislation.gov.uk).
The Magistrates Court, who award the liability orders, publish a list of the names and addresses of those council tax payers against whom an order was granted, together with the amount they owe. The granting of a liability order is a legal process and not an actual document, as such, it cannot be evidenced in the form of a document.
Cornwall Council will however provide the debtor with details of the court hearing, Council Tax liability details, amount payable, court costs and how to make payment.
You do not have my consent to share my data with an enforcement agent (previously known as bailiffs)
We will share information with debt management agents to proceed with the collection of revenues, in accordance with The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.
Please provide evidence that you have my consent to hold my data.
Under Regulation 8 of the Data Protection Act 2018, we do not require your consent to process data that is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of the controller’s official function conferred by an enactment or rule of law.
Please state if you are a company or a corporation.
Cornwall Council is a local authority within the Public Sector and as such, it is not a company or a corporation.
Misleading online articles
There are many misleading articles and templates (such as caution notices) on the internet regarding the legality of Council Tax. Anyone drawing on these for advice should exercise caution and seek proper legal advice before using them as defence against Council Tax liability based on contract, consent, and common law.
For those relying on copied articles using arguments based on Notice of Conditional Acceptance, including those quoting the Magna Carta 1215, Halsbury's Laws of England, Misprision of Treason, and threats that 'ignorance is no defence in law’ for example, should be aware these arguments have no legal basis with which to support non-payment of Council Tax.
The Magna Carta (Latin for Great Charter) 1215, specifically Article 61, was drawn up to settle the dispute between the then Monarch and a group of 25 Barons over specific matters including taxes. However, the terms and conditions of this order were never granted to the population at large. Furthermore, Article 61 was subsequently omitted from all further versions of the Magna Carta and was never incorporated into English law. The Magna Carta was amended and republished in various forms throughout subsequent years, ending with the 1225 version, which forms part of our common law today. With regard to the original 63 clauses set out in the Magna Carta 1215, only 4 remain today, which does not include Article 61.
We do not normally limit the contact people have with us, but we have to consider whether a customer’s actions are having an impact on our ability to do our work and to provide a service to others.
When this happens we have a duty to take appropriate steps to limit the customer’s contact with the Council, under our unreasonable customer behaviour policy.
How to correctly challenge and appeal your council tax bill
You should tell us if you think that:
- Your home shouldn’t be charged council tax
- The bills are being sent to the wrong person for your home
- The amount being charged is wrong
- We have not applied a discount or exemption to which you are entitled
You can’t appeal just because you think your council tax bill is too expensive.
Any appeal should initially be made in writing. If you remain dissatisfied, you have a further right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal Service within two months of being notified of our decision (or two months from your initial appeal if no decision is made within that time).
Making an appeal does not allow you to withhold payment or part payment of your Council Tax.
Report a problem with your Council Tax bill
If you think your council bill is wrong, please tell us straight away.
For example,
- you think the amount of the bill is wrong
- the bill is in the wrong name
- you think you should get a discount.
Pay over a 12 month period
Your Council Tax is usually paid over 10 months, giving you two months in the year where you don’t have to pay. These are normally February and March.
However, you can ask to pay your Council Tax over 12 instalments. This means your monthly payments will be slightly lower. However, you would have instalments to pay all year round.
If your request to pay in 12 instalments is received in any month after March, you will only be given instalments for the remaining months until March of the following year. For example, if your request is received in June you will be given nine instalments from July to March. If your request is received in November, you will be given four instalments from December to March.
When new bills are issued the following April, your payments will automatically be divided into 12 instalments.
Change your direct debit
When you set up or change your council tax direct debit, you have a choice of paying over 10 or 12 monthly instalments. You can also select to pay on either the 1st, 7th, 15th or 20th of each month.
Change your direct debit details
Our policies
This policy explains how and when a completion notice is served on newly built properties.
This policy explains how we collect council tax and how we can help our residents if they fall behind with their payments.
Services across the Council collect information in different ways. This policy tells you how we handle your Council Tax data.
This policy explains when an additional amount of Council Tax (a premium) is payable on properties that have been empty for more than two years.
This policy explains how we deal with council tax accounts when we're told about a death of a person who is liable or jointly-liable to pay council tax.