Council Tax When Moving House: What to Do and When

Moving house comes with a long admin list, and council tax needs to be on it. Both councils need to know what’s happening, and the timing matters more than you’d think. Get it wrong and you can end up paying for a place you’ve already left, or getting chased for a place you’ve only just arrived at.

The Key Dates

Council tax liability follows who’s responsible for the property, not where you happen to be sleeping.

If you’re a tenant, you’re liable from the day your tenancy starts to the day it ends. Even if you sign a tenancy on the 1st but don’t physically move in until the 5th, you pay from the 1st. And if your old tenancy runs until the 28th but you moved out on the 25th, you’re paying council tax on both properties for those overlapping days. That overlap is annoying but unavoidable - try to line up your move dates as closely as possible to minimise it.

For homeowners, liability starts on the completion date (when the property legally becomes yours).

What to Do

As soon as you know your move date, tell both councils. Most have online forms, or you can phone. You’ll need your current account number, the full address (including postcode) of both properties, and your move date. Do this before you move if possible - it’s much easier than trying to sort it out after the fact whilst unpacking boxes.

Your old council will send a final bill adjusted to your move date. If you’ve been paying by direct debit and you’ve overpaid (common, since direct debits are spread across the year), you’ll get a refund. If you’ve underpaid, you’ll owe the difference. Cancel the direct debit yourself if it doesn’t happen automatically - we’ve seen it continue running months after people have moved.

Your new council will set you up with a fresh account. You’ll get a bill for the remaining months of the financial year. If you’re moving mid-year, the payments will be adjusted accordingly. Setting up direct debit at the new place is usually the easiest approach.

Moving Within the Same Council Area

You still need to tell them, even though it’s the same council. Your account gets updated with the new address and whatever band your new property is in. A bigger property could mean a higher band and bigger bills; a smaller one could mean the opposite.

Empty Properties Between Tenants

If a property sits empty between one tenant leaving and the next arriving, the landlord is usually liable for that gap, not you. Make sure your tenancy end date is clear and that you’ve returned keys and got confirmation in writing. If a landlord tries to bill you for days after your tenancy ended, push back.

Shared Houses

If you’re moving in or out of a shared house, tell the council you’re joining or leaving the household. Make sure the bill is in the right names. Joint and several liability means the council can chase any named tenant for the full bill, so sort out who owes what among yourselves and ideally get it in writing.

Deposits and Council Tax

These are separate things. Your tenancy deposit secures against property damage, not unpaid bills. That said, landlords sometimes check for council tax arrears when screening tenants, so unpaid council tax could affect your chances of getting a new place.

Don’t Forget

If you don’t tell the old council, they’ll keep charging you. Eventually you’ll get enforcement notices for a property you haven’t lived in for months. If you don’t tell the new council, they’ll find out eventually and backdate the bill to when you should have registered. Neither situation is pleasant. It takes 10 minutes to sort out, so just do it.