Who pays council tax and what are the charges?

There is only one council tax bill for each home, regardless of how many people live there.

If more than one person is responsible for paying the bill, then we will send the bill to one, some or all of them.

If necessary, we will send a form for you to complete and return, so we can see who should be paying the bill. The form will need to be returned to us within 21 days, and if it is not, we may fine you if you do not give the information we ask for.

To decide who needs to pay the council tax, look down the list below and when you reach the first description that applies to a person in your home, they will be the person who has to pay the bill.

• The resident freeholder
• The resident leaseholder
• The resident statutory or secure tenant
• The resident licensee
• The resident
• The owner (when there is no resident).

A resident is a person aged 18 years or more, who has their main home in the property.

When do these rules not apply?

There are some occasions where the owner has to pay the bill. These are:

• Houses in multiple occupation - properties occupied by more than one household, where each resident has their own room and shares facilities 
• Residential care homes, nursing homes, hospices and hostels
• Religious communities
• Properties occupied by people employed in domestic service
• Properties where a minister of religion for any faith lives and works
• Properties occupied by asylum seekers.

If you live in one of these properties you do not need to pay the council tax, as the owner has to. However, the owner may ask you to pay towards the charge, dependent on the terms of any rent agreement you have.

If you receive a council tax bill but do not agree that you are the person who has to pay it, you can appeal against our decision.

Bands and charges

Your council tax bill is made up of two parts: 50 per cent is based on the number of people living in the property and their circumstances, and 50 per cent is based on a valuation band related to the market value of homes in the city on 1 April 1991.

Council tax bands and charges for Leicester for the 2024-2025 financial year:

• Band A: £1,528.34
• Band B: £1,783.06
• Band C: £2,037.80
• Band D: £2,292.51
• Band E: £2,801.96
• Band F: £3,311.40
• Band G: £3,820.86
• Band H: £4,585.02

Council tax charges are based on band D amounts. Everyone pays a charge based on a proportion of a band D amount, so a person in band A pays 6/9 of the band D value, while someone in band H pays twice as much as a person in band D. For example, if band D is set at £900, then a band A charge would be £600, and a band H charge £1800.

Each home, whether it is a house, bungalow, flat, maisonette, mobile home or houseboat, is placed in one of eight valuation bands.  

The current valuation bands are as follows:

If you are a potential buyer, please remember that if a home has been improved since 1991 it may be moved to a higher council tax band when the sale occurs.

You can check the valuation band of your own home and other properties by looking on the Valuation Office Agency website.