Council tax checker (England, 2026/27)
A council tax checker and calculator for every council in England. Pick the council and band to see this year’s bill, who pays it (tenant or landlord), and what it costs per room in a shared house or HMO.
Luke AshtonFounder of Bricky Bot and Based Lettings · Updated Council tax checker, England 2026/27
Who pays
The owner (landlord)
Council tax a year
£2,029.98
A month
£169.17 over 12 months · £33.83 per room
Why
Rooms are let separately, so the owner pays (Class C): one bill for the whole house, not one per room.
Uses the council’s average 2026/27 Band D, including county, police, fire and parish charges (MHCLG, 25 March 2026). Parish charges vary, so for the exact figure enter the Band D from your bill. The disability reduction and the council’s low-income scheme aren’t included. England only.
The short answer
- Find the band on GOV.UK. The price of a band depends on the council: England’s average Band D for 2026/27 is £2,392.
- Whole house to one household: the tenants pay. Rooms let separately (an HMO): the landlord pays. Empty: the owner pays.
- An HMO gets one bill for the house, not one per room. All full-time students: exempt. One adult: 25% off.
How council tax is worked out
Every home in England sits in one of eight bands, A to H, based on what it was worth on 1 April 1991. Each council sets a Band D charge, and the other bands are fixed fractions of it, set by section 5 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992: Band A pays 6/9 of Band D and Band H pays 18/9, so a Band H home always pays three times as much as a Band A home in the same area. Here’s what each band costs at England’s 2026/27 average:
| Band | Share of Band D | At England’s average |
|---|---|---|
| A | 6/9 | £1,594 a year |
| B | 7/9 | £1,860 a year |
| C | 8/9 | £2,126 a year |
| D | 9/9 | £2,392 a year |
| E | 11/9 | £2,923 a year |
| F | 13/9 | £3,454 a year |
| G | 15/9 | £3,986 a year |
| H | 18/9 | £4,783 a year |
The checker uses each council’s own figure from MHCLG’s 2026/27 council tax statistics. It includes the county, police, fire, combined authority and parish charges, averaged over the council’s area.
Why the same band costs more a few miles away
Each council, county, police force and parish sets its own share, so the band price varies widely. In 2026/27 the cheapest Band D in England is Wandsworth at £1,028 and the dearest is Dorset at £2,765, almost three times as much. Inside one council, parishes add different amounts, so two Band D homes in the same district can differ by a few pounds a year.
Who pays council tax: tenant or landlord?
The law sets an order, in section 6 of the 1992 Act. An adult who lives in the home and owns it comes first, then a resident with a lease or tenancy, then other residents, and the owner only when no one lives there. Regulations then move the bill to the owner for some homes, and HMOs are one of them.
| How the house is let | Who pays | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Whole house to one household, one tenancy | The tenants, jointly | They live there and rent the whole house (s.6) |
| Rooms let on separate tenancies or licences | The landlord | Each tenant rents only part of the house (Class C) |
| An HMO, however it’s let | The landlord | Class C covers any HMO in England from 1 Dec 2023 |
| Everyone is a full-time student | No one: exempt | Class N exemption |
| Empty, or furnished with no one living there | The owner | No resident, so the owner is last in the order (s.6(2)(f)) |
| Lodgers in the owner’s own home | The owner | A resident owner is first in the order |
The owner rule for shared houses is regulation 2, Class C, of the Council Tax (Liability for Owners) Regulations 1992. It covers a house built or adapted for people who aren’t one household, a house where each resident rents only part of it, and, since December 2023, any HMO.
“Owner” has a legal meaning here: the person with the lowest freehold or lease of six months or more (s.6(5)). In rent to rent, where an operator leases the whole house and lets the rooms, that can be the operator rather than the freeholder, so the bill can land on you. How the agreement is written decides it.
HMO council tax: one bill, not one per room
From 1 December 2023, The Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings and Liability for Owners) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 made an HMO in England a single dwelling for council tax. Most HMOs already had one band, but the government’s explanatory memorandum notes cases where the Valuation Office banded each room separately, which moved the bills to the tenants. Now an HMO has one band, and the owner pays one bill.
If your rent is bills-inclusive, cost council tax per room like any other bill: the checker’s “per room” figure is the yearly charge ÷ 12 ÷ rooms. In our example (Leeds, Band C, 5 rooms) that’s about £34 per room a month. Put that into the rental yield calculator with the other bills, and list it in each room’s agreement: our tenancy agreement template names council tax when the rent includes it, as the 2026 rules require. In a room let, the tenant can’t be billed separately anyway: the bill is the owner’s.
Was the house banded room by room before 2023? The memorandum says the Valuation Office would re-band those HMOs. If you still see more than one band for one HMO, ask the council and the Valuation Office to look at it.
Discounts and exemptions landlords should know
- All students: a home where everyone is a full-time student (a course of at least a year and 21 hours a week) is exempt, HMOs included. If one non-student moves in, the bill comes back, and the owner pays it in an HMO.
- One adult: 25% off when only one adult lives there, or when everyone else is disregarded (s.11). Students, the severely mentally impaired and some carers are among those disregarded (Schedule 1); if no one living there counts, it’s 50% off.
- Empty homes: the owner pays, and the council decides any discount. After a year empty and unfurnished, councils can add up to 100%, rising to 200% after 5 years and 300% after 10 (s.11B). A furnished home with no resident can carry up to 100% more (s.11C). GOV.UK says the premium can wait up to 12 months while the home is marketed to let or sell.
- Low income, disability and carers: each council runs its own council tax reduction scheme, so ask the council. The checker doesn’t include these.
Could the house be in the wrong band?
Bands go back to 1991 values, and mistakes happen, especially after a conversion, an extension or a split into flats. Compare the band with similar homes nearby on GOV.UK, then use GOV.UK’s challenge service. A review can move a band up as well as down, so check the neighbours first.
Scotland and Wales
This checker covers England only. Wales has nine bands (A to I) with its own ratios, and Welsh councils set their own charges. Scotland has its own system, and its bands come from the Scottish Assessors (saa.gov.uk).
Where Bricky fits
Bricky Bot keeps each house’s council and council tax band with the rest of its facts, along with whether the rent includes bills and which ones, council tax among them. Council tax payments in your costs are sorted under bills. It doesn’t pay the council or tell it when tenants change; that’s still yours. More on running shared houses in HMO management software.
Checking a specific house?
For HMO feasibility on a real address (licensing, Article 4, comparables), try Bricksmart’s HMO report. Bricksmart is our sister product and is free to start. Licensing rules are in our HMO licence guide.
Questions landlords ask
How do I check my council tax band?
Search your postcode on GOV.UK’s “Check your Council Tax band” service (the Valuation Office Agency’s list for England and Wales). Then pick your council and band in the checker above to see what the band costs in 2026/27.
Who pays council tax in an HMO?
The owner. When rooms are let separately, or the house is an HMO, the Council Tax (Liability for Owners) Regulations 1992 (regulation 2, Class C) make the owner liable instead of the people living there. Most HMO landlords build it into a bills-inclusive rent.
Is council tax charged per room in an HMO?
No, not in England. Since 1 December 2023 an HMO must be treated as a single dwelling for council tax, so the house has one band and one bill. Before that the Valuation Office could band some rooms separately.
Do landlords or tenants pay council tax?
It depends on how the house is let. If one household rents the whole house on one tenancy, the tenants pay because they live there. If rooms are let on separate tenancies or licences, the landlord pays. If the house is empty, the owner pays.
Do students pay council tax?
Not if everyone living there is a full-time student: the house is exempt, even in an HMO. If one adult isn’t a student, there’s a bill, but students are disregarded, so one non-student on their own gets 25% off.
What if only one adult lives there?
The bill is cut by 25% when only one adult lives there, or when everyone but one is disregarded (full-time students, for example).
Does council tax have to be paid on an empty rental?
Usually yes, by the owner. The council decides any discount, and most give none. After a year empty and unfurnished, it can charge up to double, and more after 5 and 10 years. While the home is being marketed to let, that premium can wait up to 12 months.
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