Unoccupied and exempt accommodation

For more information, visit the Parkinson’s UK website (last updated July 2025).

Some properties and some people in certain circumstances are completely exempt from Council Tax liability (meaning you don’t have to pay).

You don’t have to pay any Council Tax if you or your property meet 1 of the following criteria:

• All the resident(s) of the property is/are severely mentally impaired.
• You’re in hospital or a care home.
• You’re living away from the property elsewhere to care for someone and the property is unoccupied.
• The only person living in the property has died and probate has yet to be granted (after probate has been granted, the property is exempt for a further 6 months too).
• The property has been repossessed.
• Occupation of the property is forbidden by law (for example, because of planning restrictions or it’s derelict).
• The person living in the property who is liable to pay Council Tax has been declared bankrupt and the property is part of the bankruptcy.
• Everyone living in the property is under the age of 18.
• Everyone in the property is a full-time student.
• You’re in prison.
• You’re a student studying elsewhere and the property is unoccupied.

This isn’t a complete list. Check with your council for the entire list of exempt properties and people.

If everyone living in the property is severely mentally impaired, they must also each receive 1 of the qualifying benefits listed under ‘Status Discount for severe mental impairment’ above.

A qualified medical practitioner (usually your doctor) must also confirm to the council that in their medical opinion, all resident(s) of the property have an impairment of their cognitive and social functioning that appears to be permanent, and they are, as a result, ‘severely mentally impaired’.