Buying property for son : council tax

Dribiddi

Hi. 

Considering buying a house for my son who is going to university. 

Would he be able to receive council tax exemption / discount ?

Brie

Is the house going to be in his name only?  Which would lose him an FTB benefits.  And he could sell and keep/spend the money any time he wants.

Or would it be in your name with your son as tenant, in which case I believe he'd be exempt as a student.

Dribiddi

The house would be in my name and yeah with him essentially as the tenant 
I’m just wondering would the council need a formal tenancy agreement ? Would he need to pay rent I would need to declare?
Just in case you’re thinking if you can buy a second home you can afford to pay council tax, we probably could but his circumstances are a bit different and I’m remortgaging my home to buy one for him at uni 

lincroft1710

Buying a house and letting it out to a family member needs very careful consideration, before you even start worrying about CT. The CT liability falls to the occupier not the owner, so your son would be responsible from the day he moves in. To qualify as a full time student for CT purposes his course must last at least 1 year and involve at least 21 hours study per week. 


For your own sake a tenancy agreement is eminently advisable and as a landlord you will have certain legal responsibilities. In some areas you have to have a licence to be a landlord. There may even be an Income Tax liability.

K_S

@dribiddi Unless I'm missing something obvious, if you don't need/expect him to pay rent, you don't really need to set it up as a tenancy as that may come with a whole set of extra responsibilities and obligations.

It could just be a second home for a dependent, not at all uncommon where he/you/both cover the basic running expenses such as utilities, etc. Depending on how many rooms the property has, he could even consider taking in a lodger (income would most likely be tax-free under the rent-a-room scheme) to help with the expenses.

penners324

Let's not forget the extra stamp duty you will pay on buying that property. The income tax on the rent, etc etc

macman

As very clearly advised above, CT is based firstly on the occupant, not the owner. If your son is registered for C. Tax and can produce proof of his full-time student status, then no proof of tenancy is likely to be required.
But bear in mind that if he has other tenants/lodgers/occupants who are not also exempt, then the property will be liable for the full rate of CT.