Discounts and reductions

If you live alone, or if no other adults (aged 18 or over) live in your household, you may be eligible for a 25% single person discount.

This discount applies only to your main or sole residence. 

Apply

You will need to log into My Account to apply for a Single Person Discount. If you don't have one you can register for My Account. It only takes a couple of minutes to set up. All you need to get started is an email address to use as a log in.

What happens after you apply

We will aim to review and process your application within 14 days. Please keep paying your current bill while we make a decision.

If your application is successful, we will send you an updated council tax bill showing the 25% single person discount.

Backdating single person discount

We usually won't backdate a discount because it is almost impossible to verify. We might consider it if you provide strong evidence and our internal checks support the claim.

Change in circumstances

If you already receive the single person discount and someone else over 18 comes to live with you, you must tell us straightaway. You can do this using My Account.

You can get a discount disregard or an exemption on your Council Tax if you are a full-time student and you live in:

• a property that only students live in
• student halls provided by your university or college
• a household that has both students and non-students

Apply for a student discount

Use our online enquiry form to apply for a student discount. You will need to include the following information:

• the Council Tax account number on your bill
• the names of all adults over 18 living at the property
• a telephone contact number for the main applicant
• a student certificate from a university or college, for everyone who is applying for the discount confirming your name, address, where you are studying, the course name and its dates
• a copy of your up-to-date tenancy agreement, including details of your landlord and when you moved in.

You can get a discount disregard or an exemption on your Council Tax if you are a full-time student and you live in:

• a property that only students live in
• student halls provided by your university or college
• a household that has both students and non-students

Who qualifies as a student

If you are aged 20 or over, you may be eligible for a student discount disregard or a student exemption if:

• on a course at a registered educational establishment in the UK:
• A course that lasts an academic or calendar year (a minimum of 24 weeks a year)
• undertaking a minimum of 21 hours per week of study, tuition and or work experience
• where work experience does not exceed 50% of the total course time (except student teachers)

You may also be eligible if you are:

• a foreign language student registered with the British Council
• student nurse undertaking a course that leads to registration under the Nurses, Midwife and Health Visitors Act 1997
• studying online or by a correspondence course
• a PhD student who is no longer enrolled and 'writing up'

What we need from you

To review your application, please upload a student certificate that includes:

• your full name
• the name and address of your educational institution
• confirmation of your student status
• course start date and expected end date
• confirmation that you study at least 21 hours per week
• your date of birth (if available).

If you are under 20, your course must meet both of the following criteria:

• last for at least three calendar months
• involve a minimum of 12 hours of study per week 

You are not normally eligible if you are:

• a researcher that is not attending a course of education (unless you can provide a student certificate)
• studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL) on a course that lasts for less than an academic year.

Living with other people

If you are a student and live with one non-student, you will get a discount of 25%. The non-student will have to pay the remaining balance.

If you live in a shared property where there are two or more non-students, no discount is given. The non-students must pay the full Council Tax bill.

School and college leavers

If you are under 20 and you left education after 30 April of the current calendar year, you will not considered be an adult, for Council Tax purposes, until 1 November of the same year or until your 20th birthday, whichever is earlier.

If property is occupied by two adults where one is a school or college leaver, the 25% discount will apply.

If you are not receiving this discount then use our online enquiry form to contact us and share any evidence needed.

Apprentices

If you are on an apprentice scheme, you could be exempt from paying Council Tax. You will need a declaration from your employer stating that:

• you will not be paid more than £195 a week
• the training leads to a qualification accredited by a body recognised by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) or the Scottish Vocational Education Council (SVEC)

If you are a live-in carer or look after someone who is not your partner, spouse, or a child under 18, you might be able to get discount or reduction on your Council Tax bill.

A paid carer must be:

• providing care for a minimum of 24 hours a week
• earning no more than £44 per week
• employed by a local authority or a charity
• living in a property provided by the relevant employer or by the person who is receiving the care

An unpaid carer must be:

• living in the same property as the person they are caring for
• providing care to a person that is not their partner or a child under 18, for a minimum of 35 hours a week.

In addition, the person receiving care must be in receipt of one of the following benefits:

• Any rate of attendance allowance
• the highest or middle rate of the care component of a disability living allowance under
• an increase in the rate of his disablement pension
• an increase in a constant attendance allowance
• the standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component of personal independence payment armed forces independence payment

Please note that you do not have to be in receipt of a Carer’s Allowance to apply for this discount. 

Apply for a carer's reduction

Contact us to apply for a carers reduction. When you complete the online enquiry form you must upload the necessary evidence of your caring role, too.

If you, or someone that lives with you (an adult or child), has a disability and your home has been adapted, you may qualify for a reduction in your Council Tax. You will need to show that home has either:

• a room, not a bathroom, kitchen or toilet, which is used mainly for meeting the needs of the person with a disability
• an extra bathroom, kitchen or other room that you need for the disabled person
• extra space inside the property that can be accessed by a wheelchair

The property must be the main home of at least one disabled person. This can be an adult or a child - it does not have to be the person responsible for paying the Council Tax.

If you qualify for a reduction, your bill will be reduced to the valuation band immediately below yours. If your home is already in band A you will be given a one-ninth reduction on that charge. The disabled person reduction will be shown on your bill.

Apply for a reduction

The person liable to pay the Council Tax should complete the form. If this is the severely mentally impaired person, their representative can complete the form.

Severely mentally impaired

People who are severely mentally impaired are not included when working out Council Tax.

A person is considered to be severely mentally impaired if they are medically certified as having a permanent condition that affects their intelligence and social functioning.

What happens next?

We will arrange to visit you to confirm that your home meets the requirements. We may also speak to your doctor or other qualified professional to verify medical details.

We aim to respond to you within 10 working days with our decision but if we need further information from you this may delay the application. If we do not give you the reduction and you disagree with our decision you can make an appeal.

You might be able to get discount on your Council Tax bill if someone in your household is temporarily away from home in hospital a care home, or in prison.

Patients in hospital or a care home

You can get a discount if someone in your household:

• is living in a hospital or registered care home
• does not intend to return to the household

You cannot get a discount if two or more other people also live in the household and they:

• count as an adult for Council Tax
• are not entitled to a discount

Prisoners and people in detention

You can get a discount if someone in your household is currently in prison.

You cannot apply for this discount if:

• the person went to prison because they did not pay their Council Tax
• two or more adults live in the household who are not entitled to a discount

Contact us using our online enquiry form if you think you might be eligible for a discount.

If you are a Brent care leaver, you will not have to pay Council Tax until your 25th birthday.

If you live alone or only with other care leavers, no Council Tax is payable.

If you live with someone who is not a care leaver, that person may qualify for a 25% single person discount.

This scheme applies only to Brent care leavers. If you are a care leaver supported by another council, you will not be eligible and will remain liable to pay Council Tax.

To apply for this discount, use the Council Tax contact us form.

Exceptions to the long-term empty property and second home premium

Annexes

A self-contained annexe (often known as a granny annexe) is a building or part of a building, which has been constructed or adapted for use as separate living accommodation.

To decide if an annexe is eligible for its own Council Tax band, a number of points are taken into account:

• The layout and structure of the annexe must be capable of use as separate living accommodation
• The annexe is self-contained unit and not be spread over different parts of main property.
• A self-contained unit would normally have clear areas for living and sleeping, food preparation and washing. It will also have its own WC

If the annex is classed as a separate dwelling, the Council Tax payer will receive a separate Council Tax bill for it.

You may be eligible for a reduced Council Tax bill if the person living in the annexe is a dependent relative of someone living in the main property.

A dependent relative means someone who is:

• 65 years plus
• severely mentally impaired
• substantially and permanently disabled

The relative may be a spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece. The relationship may be by blood, marriage or civil partnership.

The discount will apply where the annexe has been separately banded and is classed as a separate dwelling. Where a non-family member occupies an annexe, the discount will not apply.