Use the VOA website to find out your banding and that of your neighbours. If your home is banded higher than similar houses around you then find out through Nationwide what your house was worth in 1991 when bandings were assigned. If your banding looks disputable ask the local valuation office to review it, which will open an informal appeal. Bandings can often be wrong because they are given by valuers merely driving past the house and no re-valuation has taken place since 1991. The average council tax bill in England is £1300 per annum, and a shift into the next lower band gives an average saving of £220. In the past 13 years 915,000 homeowners in England have successfully had their band lowered - but just beware that 4,000 had their band highered as a result of an appeal.
Check if you are eligble for a council tax discount, potentially save 10%-25% per annum
Full council tax liability assumes that two adults live in a property. If you live alone you are eligible for a 25% discount. If you have a second home or holiday home you are entitled to a 10% reduction on it (if you own an empty property it is exempt from council tax completely). If you are on low income you may be eligible for council tax benefit. Or if you, or someone who lives with you, is disabled and needs a room to meet their special needs, or has an extra bathroom or kitchen because of their disability, or uses a wheelchair indoors, then you may also be entitled to a reduction in your council tax. Also, if some of the residents in your property are students the council tax may be reduced. In all instances, get in touch with your local council. In England, a caravan or boat which is used as a main residence is exempt from council tax during the times when you are not living there. This exemption lasts for up to six months. If you live permanently in a stationed caravan or mobile home you will pay council tax. People who have a fixed caravan as a holiday home will pay business rates.
Become legally exempt, reduce council tax liability to £0?
If you choose to live aboard a canal boat with a mooring you may - or may not - achieve it. There are three ways in which a local Council might view a liveaboard for Council Tax purposes: the liveaboard is not liable for Council Tax; the liveaboard is liable for Council Tax; or the landlord is liable for Business Rates but the liveaboard is not liable for Council Tax. The rulings are still evolving and the guidelines vague. If you are considering this then contact the Residential Boat Owners Association for further clarification.
A holiday caravan or boat is exempt from council tax if it's on a property where council tax is paid, so you may achieve it this way. However, in these circumstances you are likely to be paying site or mooring charges to a landlord, thereby negating the saving. Equally if you live permanently in a hotel – you will not be liable for council tax on the property although the hotel charges would probably include an amount towards any council tax payable.
Any property that only students live in is exempt. This can be a hall of residence or a house. To qualify for exemption this way, you and all other inhabitants would have to remain registered students (and you have to be studying for more than 21 hours a week, and more than 24 weeks a year. The course must be in higher or further education, and last at least one academic or calendar year). Not a practical loophole. Ditto a property where all the people who live in it are aged under 18 or a property where all the people who live in it are either severely mentally impaired or where there is a mixture of mentally impaired residents and students.
Gypsies and Travellers do not pay council tax if they do not live settled on authorised sites. Where council leaders set aside sites and authorise them specifically for these communities they are then able to enforce council tax.
In short, council tax is a difficult one to get around. Only by living permanently on the move, whether by water or by road, can you genuinely avoid liability.