Mary Reid

I promised yesterday that I'd write about ways to reduce your Council Tax bill. To be fair, these do not apply to everyone, but if you are entitled to these discounts then you most certainly should be getting them.  So here we go:

1. Are you the only adult in your home? If so you are entitled to a discount of 25% on your Council Tax. And when you count up the adults you can exclude students even if they are over 18.  There are also quite a number of other people who you can exclude - they are listed on page 8 of the booklet that comes with your Council Tax bill, or see this page on the Council website.

2. Are you a full-time student or student nurse? Then you don't pay any Council Tax at all. See this page on the Council website.

3. Is your property exempted? There are all kinds of exemptions, which mean that Council Tax is not payable on the property. These mostly apply when the property is empty. See pages 9 and 10 of the booklet with your Council Tax bill, or this page on the Council website.

4. Are you entitled to Council Tax Benefit or Housing Benefit? There's a neat calculator on the Council website which will help you to work out whether you qualify. It is really worth applying as you can get up to 100% of your Council Tax and rent refunded. You can phone the Guildhall on 020 8547 5198 during office hours for advice.

You can contact the Council Tax office about any of this.