Council Tax No 6 - Single Person Relief (SPR) No1

The Local Government Finance Act 1992 provides as a general rule that when two (or more) adult persons occupy a dwlling the result will be that the council tax payer pays the full amout of tax for the dwelling's council tax band.

When only one adult person occupies the dwelling relief is given by a 25 percent reduction ( a discount) in the amount of council tax to be paid. This may result from::

• being a one person household;
• other residents have left to reside elsewhere;
• a spouse has died;
• a marriage has ended and one peson leaves the dwelling;
• one spouse is away working elsewhere.

In most cases the individual remaining must claim the SPR. However, where a spouse dies the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages notifies the charging authority. The charging authority then makes the council tax adjustments to reflect the SPR.
[Note: A family's children, ie minors (under 18 years), and most students are not treated as residing in the dwelling for council tax purposes.]

The law of council tax is more complicate than I have described above. For instance case law has established that a person required to live eslewhere may be regareded as resident so the SRP is lost!