Thread: What is the council tax exemption that applies?

I got a question regarding council tax, at my old uni (well, before I transferred to London), I was living in a house, but I was living alone, I was a full time registered student. The uni used to send over details of all the students who were registered to the local borough council. I've been told that full time students registered at a higher education instituition should be fully exempt from council tax, however for 2 years I was only granted the 25% discount as they classified it as a one person residence. Looking back I never challenged them and just paid the bill (which came upto £1400/year, which is a hell of a lot to student who only gets around £4000 loan). Did they apply the right discount? Or did they pretty much take advantage of my single person status as opposed to student status and applied the lesser discount? Any thought and opinions would be helpful and much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance

I used to work for a local authority in the council tax dept, and unfortunately it looks to me like they've taken advantage of you. Good news, however, we had many students with the same problem in my office - if you have proof regarding your status as a student for the period they were charging you 75%, write a letter to the authority concerned, attach the proof and you should be elgible for a full refund.

I agree with ultimate, when you're a full-time student, you should be council tax exempt. I'm a full time degree student and it's taken me a few months for sort out, but as soon as I said full time student, they said all I had to do was get a council exempt certificate from my uni and that would be proof enough of my status.

Goodluck