How Can You Avail The Single Person Discount On Council Tax If You Live In Croydon?

If you are interested in learning about how you can avail of the single-person council tax discount in Croydon, you should go through the following blog post which discussed the topic in detail. While our key focus remains on the eligibility criteria for a single-person council tax discount in Croydon, we will also review other ways through which one can avail of a reduction in their council tax bill as well.

How Can You Avail The Single Person Discount On Council Tax If You Live In Croydon?

If you wish to avail of the single-person discount on council tax while living in Croydon Borough in South London, you should be able to meet either of the below-mentioned conditions:

• You are the only adult (someone who is aged above 18 years) living on the premises. While you can have other household members, they should be younger than 18 years.
• You are living with someone who may be older than 18 years of age but is disregarded from council tax.
• You live with someone who is severely mentally disabled.

The first condition is quite self-explanatory. If you live in Croydon and intend to get the single-person discount of 25% on your council tax bill, you must be the only adult in the household. This does not mean that you should be living all by yourself to avail of the discount. It simply indicates that the other household members living with you should be younger than 18 years of age.

In this situation, even if there is a family member or partner who stays over certain days of the week with you, you will need to make sure that your home is not treated as their main residence; so that you can remain eligible for the single-person council tax discount.

According to the second condition, you can have someone older than 18 years of age share your residence in Croydon; however, they must be classified as being disregarded from council tax. Being disregarded covers a wide range of criteria from claiming benefits to education status to health conditions.

And finally, if you live with someone with severe mental impairment, you will be able to claim the 25% discount on your council tax bill in Croydon. However, it will not be sufficient to declare a mental impairment on your own. You will have to provide a certificate from a medical practitioner that can confirm the mental impairment of the person who lives with you.

If you fall into any of the above-mentioned criteria, you can contact the Croydon Council Office and apple for a single-person discount. Contact can be made with the local council in any of the following ways:

• You can send an email to the council authorities at Croyctax@croydon.gov.uk
• You can call them on 020 8726 7000 (option 2)
• You can write to them at Council Tax team, Croydon Council, Bernard Weatherill House 8 Mint Walk, Croydon CR0 1EA, United Kingdom

How Do You Know If You Are Living With Someone Disregarded From Council Tax?

If you plan to apply for the single-person council tax discount and would like to know if the second adult living with you is disregarded from council tax payments, you can review the below-mentioned categories to check your eligibility for the 25% discount:

• 18 years old and child benefit is still paid for them
• 18 or 19-year-olds and in further education
• school or college leavers who are under 20 years old
• full-time students
• foreign national spouses and dependents of full-time students
• foreign language assistants
• apprentices
• youth training trainees
• severely mentally impaired individuals
• prisoners
• carers
• living in a hospital, nursing home, care home or a hostel
• member of religious communities, such as nuns and monks
• members of international headquarters and defence organisations such as NATO and their dependant
• members of visiting armed forces and their dependents
• foreign diplomats

You must keep in mind that if you apply for a single-person council tax discount based on any of the above-listed criteria, you will have to provide evidence in the form of relevant documents that can support your claim.

Are There Any Other Ways To Get A Discount On Your Council Tax Bill In Croydon?

Yes, there is a list of eligibility criteria that you can refer to if you wish to apply for a council tax discount in Croydon. While each council authority follows its council tax reduction scheme, you will find the below-listed conditions to be commonly practised:

• You can get a discount on your council tax bill if you are living with a full-time student or a placement student. Full-time students and placement students such as student nurses are exempt from council tax bills. 
• You can get a council tax discount if you are living with someone below 18 years of age as council tax is only applicable to adults living in a household.
• If you are taking care of another member of the household for at least 35 hours per week as a carer, you may qualify for a council tax discount. 
• Although council tax payments are spread over 10 monthly instalments, if you opt to pay the annual amount in a lump sum at the beginning of the year, a bulk payment may also qualify you for a discount.

For a quick online assessment regarding your eligibility for a discount on your council tax bill, you can contact your local council office and apply for a Council Tax discount.

Conclusion:

We’ve learnt from the above discussion that as long as an applicant meets the eligibility criteria, they can qualify and apply for the single-person council tax discount in Croydon. This includes being the only adult in the household or living with someone who is disregarded from council tax.

References:

Sole occupier discount and disregarded persons | Croydon Council

Get money off your bill | Croydon Council

How Council Tax works: Discounts for disabled people – GOV.UK