We do not include some adult residents of your household when calculating your Council Tax bill – they are classified as ‘disregarded persons’.
Disregarded persons are:
- people who are severely mentally impaired
- people caring for someone in their property with a disability who is not a spouse, partner, or child under 18
- anyone whose only or main residence is within a council-registered care home, nursing home or similar establishment, including hostels, mental nursing homes and residential care homes
- care workers on low pay living in accommodation provided by an employer
- patients whose only residence is a hospital
- full time students, student nurses and foreign language assistants
- youth training trainees, including YCTs, Options, Future and Next Step and apprentices
- 18-year-olds and 19-year-olds who are at school, or have left school or college after 30 April until the following November
- some non-British spouses and dependents of students
- people over 18 for whom Child Benefit is payable
- people in detention, including prisoners
- residents of hostels or night shelters not in separate and self-contained premises, provided for persons who have no fixed abode or no settled way of life and under a licence to occupy which is not a tenancy
- members of international headquarters and defence organisations and their dependents
- members of visiting forces and dependents, for example, lodging with British citizens
- members of certain religious communities
- diplomats and senior officials (and their dependants) of certain international organisations
If the property is only occupied by people under 18
A property occupied only by people under 18 years old is exempt from Council Tax. Evidence will need to be provided to confirm their ages.
Disregarded persons are not included when counting adults in a residence. Even if a property has more than 2 adults, a discount of 25% or 50% may still apply. If 2 adults live at the property who are not disregarded, the full Council Tax bill must be paid.
How to apply
To apply for an exemption, please complete our form. You'll need to know your Council Tax account number.
For Bournemouth residents:
For Christchurch residents:
For Poole residents:
Please contact us if you need any help with completing the application form.