Spouses and partners who live together are jointly responsible for paying the bill. In certain circumstances, the bill may be reduced or some homes may also be exempt from council tax. This will depend on why a property is empty or if the occupants are disregarded for council tax purposes.
If you live alone you can claim for a 25% single person discount using the link below. This link can also be used to cancel your single person discount or confirm you are still entitled to the discount.
You may also qualify for one of the other discounts listed below.
You may qualify for a discount on your council tax bill, if you or the other people in your property are students. You will need to meet certain criteria to qualify.
Qualifying for a student discount
You can qualify for a student discount if you are:
- studying on a full time course with a college or university for at least one academic year. The course must consist of at least 21 hours per week of study, tuition or work experience.
- under 20 years of age and studying on a course of further education for at least three months. The course must consist of at least 12 hours per week of study, tuition or work experience.
You will not qualify for a student discount if there are two or more adults living in the property who are not students.
Initial assessment for a student discount
If you must occupy a specified second home as part of your contract of employment, for example a school caretaker or pub landlord, you can claim for a discount of 50%. You can enquire about this using our online form.
Apply for a second home discount
People who have a severe mental impairment
To qualify for the Severely Mentally Impaired discount you must be entitled to one of the following benefits:
- Incapacity Benefit (short-term or long-term rate)
- Employment and Support Allowance
- Attendance Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- An increase in Disablement Allowance where constant attendance is needed
- Disability Living Allowance (high or middle rate care component)
- Standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP)
- Constant Attendance Allowance
- War Pensions Unemployability Supplement
- Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Income Support including a disability premium because of incapacity for work
- The ‘limited capability for work’ or ‘the limited capability for work related elements’ of Universal Credit
Please download the certificate below to be completed by the applicant’s medical practitioner. This must be returned to Salford City Council before we can consider your application.
Medical practitioner’s certificate (Adobe PDF format, 151kb)
Please complete the form below to apply.
Apply for a severely mentally impaired discount
Care homes or in hospital
If you are a nursing home or care home patient who permanently lives in a residential care home, nursing home, mental care nursing home or a high care hostel as your main or only home, you will be able to apply for an exemption.
Apply for a care home or in hospital exemption
There are two types of carer who may not be counted when we work out how many people live at a property.
- Careworkers providing care on behalf of an official or charitable body, or introduced by a charitable body and who are:
- resident in the property of the person being cared for or at the property provided by, or on behalf of, that organisation; and
- engaged or employed for at least 24 hours a week and earning no more than £44 per week; and
- not the partner or the child’s parent if the person being cared for is under 18.
- A carer who lives in the same property as the person they are providing care for. The carer must be providing care for at least 35 hours a week, not be the partner of the person being cared for or the parent, if the person being cared for is under 18. And the person who is being cared for must be entitled to one of these benefits:
- an Attendance Allowance;
- the highest or middle rate of the care component of a Disability Living Allowance;
- Personal Independence Payment Daily Living Component at either standard or enhanced rate;
- an increase in a Constant Attendance Allowance under the Industrial Injuries or War Pensions Scheme;
- Armed Forces Independence Payment;
- Highest rate of Constant Attendance allowance payable on top of full rate Disablement Benefit paid for an industrial injury.
This form can be used for both careworkers and carers
Apply for a carers or unpaid carers discount
Apprentices, youth training trainees and school and college leavers
People in prison or detention centre
People in prison (except those in prison for non-payment of council tax or a fine). The prison or detention centre will be contacted to verify this before a discount can be awarded.
Apply for a person in detention discount
If you currently have an annexe which a family member lives in you can claim for a 50% discount on the annexe.
If a non-family member lives in the annexe the discount will not apply. Some annexes are already exempt from council tax and these will not be affected by the discount and will continue to be exempt.
Apply for a discount for your family annexe
Homes for Ukraine scheme resident living in private accommodation (not in your sponsors home)
Unoccupied and substantially unfurnished property discount
You can claim a 50% discount for the first two calendar months that a property is unoccupied and substantially unfurnished. This discount is to recognise that landlords need time to prepare and maintain a property between tenants and for new owners to prepare to move in.
Apply for an unoccupied or unfurnished property discount
The full charge will become payable once a property has been unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for more than two calendar months.
On the 1 April 2019 the % premium applied to the full council tax charge for a property that has been unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for more than two years increased to a 100% premium. From 1 April 2024, the 100% premium will be applied to a property that has been empty and unfurnished for more than one year. For any period that the property had been empty for more than two years prior to 1 April 2019, the premium will be 50% on top of the council tax charge.
From 1 April 2020 the premium for a property that has been empty for five years or more has increased to 200%.
From 1 April 2021 the premium for a property that has been empty for ten years or more has increased to 300%.
Salford is in need of more suitable homes for residents. Bringing empty properties back into use is a great way to make use of the existing housing stock in the communities in our city and it can generate income for the owner. If you are an empty property owner and would like some advice on becoming a landlord, or you need advice on repairing and selling a property, please visit our Empty Property team pages for more information.
Owned or leased by a charity
Waiting to be occupied by a minister of religion
Repossessed properties (in possession of the mortgage lender)
The responsibility of a bankrupt’s trustee
Unoccupied properties requiring or undergoing major repair or structural alterations discount
If a residential property is empty and needs structural alterations or major repairs to make it habitable you can claim for a 10% discount for a period of up to 12 months. After this period, the full charge will become payable. A property which is being modernized eg replacing kitchen units will not meet the criteria for this discount.
Examples of structural alterations or major repairs that we will consider include:
- Major repairs to roof structure or to the chimney stack (not re-tiling)
- Rebuilding an external wall
- Repairing or renewing foundations or underpinning substandard foundations
- Replacing defective solid floors or floor joists
- Replacing staircase, ceiling joists or defective walls
- Repairs following fire or flood damage
- Building or removing property extensions
- Modifying the internal layout with the removal or creation of walls
Apply for a major repair or structural alterations discount
Former occupant now deceased
Left empty by a student owner, who live elsewhere to carry out their course
Empty because the law has said it must not be lived in
Student halls of residence
Care leavers council tax discount
You may qualify for a discount on your council tax bill, if you were in the care of a local authority since your fourteenth birthday.
To qualify for the care leavers discount you need to meet all of the criteria below:
- You are the person who is charged council tax
- You were in the care of the local authority for at least 13 weeks since your 14th birthday and at least one of those days was on or after your 16th birthday
- You are under 25 years of age
- You were in the care of a local authority in England on or following your 16th birthday
Apply for care leavers discount
An empty caravan pitch or houseboat mooring
Where at least one person has diplomatic, commonwealth or consular privilege or immunity
Armed and visiting forces accommodation
Conditions apply to each category noted above. Please complete the appropriate online application form from the above options. If any further information is required in support of your application for a discount we will contact you to advise on the evidence you will need to provide in order to make a decision on your application.
You must inform us as soon as possible if your bill shows any discounts and there has been a change in your circumstances, which may affect your Council Tax Account. If you do not inform us of any changes we may take court action against you.