Advice needed about council tax for student letting

k2k

Hi,
I have a 5 bedrooms property planning to let only to students and I am (the landlord) not living in the house. Could somebody advice how could the house be categorised as student property (therefore exempted from paying council tax) instead of a House of Multiple Occupancy (which the landlord has to pay the council tax although letting to students who can provide a valid council tax exemption cert.)? Any advice on how the landlord be eligible for the council tax exemption for letting to students will be much appreciated.
Thank you

anselld

Just show the council the 5 exemption certs to avoid council tax. However that does not stop it being HMO. If you have 5 students in 3 stories you must still register and comply with HMO requirements.

Marcheline

Other more knowledgable people will be along soon, but it might be worth having a look here http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/FAQ/index.php?action=artikel&cat=7&id=41&artlang=en&highlight=student%20council%20tax or asking on this site http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/

tbs624

k2k wrote: »

Hi,
I have a 5 bedrooms property planning to let only to students and I am (the landlord) not living in the house. Could somebody advice how could the house be categorised as student property (therefore exempted from paying council tax) instead of a House of Multiple Occupancy (which the landlord has to pay the council tax although letting to students who can provide a valid council tax exemption cert.)? Any advice on how the landlord be eligible for the council tax exemption for letting to students will be much appreciated.
Thank you

(my emboldening) The quick answer is that you can't - the size of the property and the number of tenants who are unrelated/not forming a "single household" dictate whether or not the property is an HMO, and which type of licensing it would fall under.

It is not the *property* that is exempt from Council Tax but the student tenants, who may claim an exemption if they get properly dated forms from their University.In a smaller non HMO property the students have to present these to the CT office.

The difference for a LL of an HMO is that *you* would be responsible for gathering the exemption forms, thereby demonstrating to the Council that your tenants are full time students and reducing your CT liability to zero. It's all part of a LLs record-keeping, and should any one of your student tenants leave their University then Council Tax would be levied against you as the property owner for that one non-student, albeit with a single person occupancy discount (because the remaining students are disregarded).

You may like to consider joining one of the national LL associations so you can keep up to date on LL obligations - the membership fee can be set against rental income for tax purposes and you qualify for discounts on your LL insurances - see landlords.org.uk or rla.org.uk