Council tax is a local tax set by local councils to help pay for local services. Council and police services are paid for by government grants, Council Tax, fees and other charges. There is one Council Tax bill for each domestic dwelling whether it is a house, flat, mobile home or houseboat.
We collect the Council Tax, but we keep less than one ninth of it. We pay the rest over to the Lincolnshire County Council, Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire, and to the parish and town councils.
Who pays Council Tax?
Council Tax is usually paid by the owner occupier or the tenant of a property. Where there are two or more people who are joint owners or joint tenants, they are each responsible for paying.
Married couples, civil partners and people living together as a couple will be jointly liable for the bill while they both live at the property; this is the person or persons who come highest in the following list:
- you own the freehold of the property
- you hold the leasehold of the property
- you are a tenant
- you have some other right of occupation
- you are a resident
In the following circumstances the owner of the property will be the person who has to pay:
- houses in multiple occupation - this is usually properties divided into bedsits
- dwellings occupied by resident staff
- residential care homes
- religious communities
- asylum seekers