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Council Tax

What to do if you're a student and you receive a Council Tax demand and how to contact us about a student's status if you are a Council Tax Officer.

Demands for Council Tax

If you're not living in University accommodation, you could receive an automatic demand for Council Tax shortly after moving into a new property. Don't ignore it. The Council will assume that the people living there are liable for Council Tax.

You'll be required to take action, but you should be aware of the following conditions:

  • If everyone in your property is a full-time student, the property will be exempt from Council Tax.
  • If one person at the property is not a full-time student the property becomes liable for 75% of the full amount of Council Tax.
  • If more than one person is not a full-time student the property becomes liable for the full 100% Council Tax.
  • Those living at the property who are not full-time students may be able to claim Council Tax Support, depending on their circumstances.

The situation can be complex, particularly if you, or the people you're living with, move accommodation part-way through the year; if you're not sure whether or not you're liable for Council Tax, talk through your situation first with the Students' Union Advice and Support Centre and have a look at the guidance from B&NES.

How we can help

You can consent to having your data passed to the Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) Council Tax office, so that we can notify them that you are a student for Council Tax purposes.

You'll be able to do this when you register via SAMIS, in a section called "Students' Union/Local Council".

We'll pass your data to the Council on a nightly basis, via secure means, if:

  • you're a student on a full-time course; and
  • you've agreed to have your details passed on; and
  • you live within the Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES or BathNES) area (you can check whether or not your postcode is in the B&NES area at gov.uk); and
  • you've completed registration (and you've made sure you've updated your address to show where you're living in Bath - note that your postcode should have a space in the middle of it, e.g. BA2 7AY rather than BA27AY).

In this section of Registration there's more detail about the data that will be passed to the Council, and we stress here how important it is to keep your semester-time address up to date.

Once you've completed Registration you'll be able to link through to the B&NES website to start the process of applying for Council Tax exemption. Even though you might have agreed for your data to be passed to the Council you'll still need to apply for exemption.

When you'll stop being a student for Council Tax purposes

You'll be expected to pay Council Tax after your studies end, when you'll stop being regarded as a student for Council Tax purposes. The last date of your study at Bath is usually the date that your award is approved by a Board of Studies.

If an award hasn't been approved in your case, and you leave the University, you may need to ask us to confirm your last date of study for Council Tax purposes. You can obtain a letter which shows your dates of study from Academic Registry.

How we can help if you've suspended your studies

If you've suspended your studies we can provide you with a letter confirming you are registered at the University.

You'll be able to request your letter via SAMIS as long as you are fully registered.

Don't ignore the Council Tax demand

If you live in the B&NES area and receive a demand for Council Tax, don't ignore it.

Contact B&NES Council straight away - as long as you're registered you'll be able to use the B&NES weblink in the Registration area of SAMIS to contact them. They'll check your details against the information they've received from the University and advise you on any further action you might need to take.

Other things you can do

If you don't live within the B&NES area, or if you've chosen not to have your information passed on to B&NES, you can request a letter, confirming your student status, to give to your local Council Tax office. You can request this via SAMIS.

If you're a Council Tax Officer looking to confirm a student's registration status

Please complete our form on the page Contact Academic Registry from outside the University.

Make a request via SAMIS

Log in to SAMIS

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