Council tax is one of those tasks that sit quietly on the moving list until they cause a problem. Miss the deadline, notify the wrong council or get the dates wrong, and the bill arrives higher than expected, or a refund takes months to appear. In London, where moves often cross borough boundaries and completion dates can shift at the last moment, getting this right from the start saves a lot of chasing later.
This guide covers who to tell, when to tell them, what happens to your bill and what to check at the new address before the first demand arrives. It is intended as general guidance. For advice specific to your circumstances, contact your local council directly.
Why council tax matters when you move in London
Council tax is a charge collected by your local council to fund local services, from waste collection and street cleaning to social care and transport. Every residential property in England falls into a valuation band, and the occupier, or, in some cases, the owner, is liable to pay.
When you move, your liability at the old address ends on a specific date and starts at the new address on another. The two are separate events, billed separately, and the responsibility for making that happen sits entirely with you, because councils do not automatically know you have moved.
That last point catches a surprising number of people out. A tenancy agreement handed to a letting agent, a completion confirmed through a solicitor or a change logged with Royal Mail does not tell the council anything. You have to contact them directly through their own forms or contact channels.
For anyone putting together a broader moving plan, this guide to moving house is a useful companion for placing council tax alongside the rest of the admin, rather than treating it as a separate afterthought once the van has left.
Who do you need to tell when you move
You need to contact two councils if your move crosses a borough boundary: the council for your old address and the council for your new address. They do not share data with each other, and one notification does not cover both.
If you are staying within the same London borough, you are dealing with one council but still need to notify them of the address change so they can close the account at the old property and open one at the new address.
To find your local council, the GOV.UK find your local council tool will identify the correct billing authority for any UK postcode.
A practical example: a household moving from Ruislip in the London Borough of Hillingdon to Harrow-on-the-Hill in the London Borough of Harrow needs to notify Hillingdon Council to close the old account and Harrow Council to open the new one. Neither council will prompt the other nor automatically pass the details across.
Deadlines, fines and why timing is important
Most councils require you to notify them of a change of address within 21 days so they can keep your council tax bill accurate. Some explicitly state that failure to do so without a reasonable excuse can result in a £70 penalty notice added to your bill, which is set out in their local guidance and based on council tax regulations.
Beyond the potential fine, late notification creates practical problems. The old account stays open longer than it should, which can produce a closing bill that needs correcting, while the new account starts late, meaning the first bill arrives after you may already need it as proof of address for a resident parking permit or other borough paperwork.
Many councils allow you to notify them up to about one month before your moving date. As soon as the date is confirmed, updating both councils is worth doing straight away. It usually takes only a few minutes online and removes a task from an already full list.
Moving within the same London borough
If both addresses are in the same borough, you are dealing with one council throughout. The process is straightforward but still requires action on your side.
Contact your council and tell them you are moving from one address to another within the borough, providing the exact dates you are leaving the old property and moving into the new one. The council will close the account at the old address, issue a final bill or credit for that property and open a new account at the new address.
Harrow Council, for example, handles this through its online change of address form, where residents can update their council tax details, notify a move within the borough, or register at a new address. Most London borough portals follow a similar pattern.
Keep a screenshot or reference number from each submission. If anything goes wrong with the account later, dated proof of when you notified the council is often the quickest way to resolve it.
Moving to a different London borough
This involves two separate processes with two separate councils, and it helps to treat them as distinct tasks.
Notify the old council as soon as your leaving date is confirmed, giving the exact date you are vacating the property. They will close the account and issue a final bill calculated through your last day of liability.
Register with the new council as soon as you move in, or as soon as your tenancy or completion date is confirmed, depending on how they ask you to do it. Provide your move-in date, the address and any supporting documents they request, typically a tenancy agreement or completion statement.
Do not assume the new council will automatically find you. In London, a new occupier at an address does not always generate a council tax account in the correct name without formal registration, and it is your responsibility to ensure the account is set up.
Tenants and homeowners
The liability date works slightly differently depending on whether you are renting or buying.
For tenants, liability at the new address normally starts on the first day of the tenancy agreement if that is when you become entitled to occupy the property, even if you move your belongings in later, and liability at the old address normally ends on the last day of that tenancy. If there is an overlap, where the new tenancy starts before the old one ends, you can be liable at both addresses for that short period, particularly if both are effectively available to you.
For homeowners, liability at the new address usually starts on the completion date, when you legally take ownership, and liability at the old address usually runs until the sale is completed, even if you physically move out slightly earlier. Councils will often ask for the key dates and, in some cases, solicitor details so they can apply the rules correctly.
In both cases, the council needs the exact dates, not approximate ones. A vague answer is likely to result in a bill that needs correcting later, which means more correspondence and more time spent fixing something that could have been right from the start.
Discounts, exemptions and changes in your household
A move is also the right moment to check whether the bill at the new address reflects the correct household make-up. Several discounts and exemptions are available but do not apply automatically, and some require a separate application.
Common situations worth checking include: Single occupancy: if only one adult is liable at the new address, a 25 per cent single-person discount may apply, regardless of income.
Student households: a property occupied entirely by full-time students may be exempt from council tax, and some mixed households with students may qualify for a discount.
Severe mental impairment: an adult who is severely mentally impaired can be disregarded for council tax purposes, which can reduce the bill, and in some cases, the household may become exempt.Care leavers and other local schemes: some councils apply additional local discounts or reductions for specific groups, such as care leavers or certain low-income households, as set out in their own policies.
Changes in household make-up also need to be reported. If someone moves in or out, a child turns 18, a student graduates, or a flatshare changes shape, the council needs to know because it can affect the discount calculation or any council tax reduction in place.
Council tax reduction, sometimes called council tax support, is a separate means-tested scheme run by each borough that helps people on lower incomes with their council tax bills. If income has changed as a result of the move, or your circumstances are different at the new address, it is worth checking eligibility with the new council directly.
Age UK’s guidance on reducing council tax covers the main reliefs available and is a useful reference for checking whether anything has been missed.
Direct debits, closing bills and refunds
The final bill from the old council is one of the most commonly mishandled parts of a move. The most frequent mistake is cancelling the direct debit before the account is fully closed, which can generate arrears notices even when the underlying amount is small.
The reliable sequence is to let the old council issue the closing statement first, check the balance, then deal with the payment instruction. If the account is in credit, the council will arrange a refund, usually to the bank account on file or by cheque to the forwarding address, and if there is a balance to pay, it remains due even though you have already left the property.
For moves within the same borough, some councils will transfer a credit balance to the new address account rather than issue a separate refund, which can reduce the first payment due at the new property.
What usually works in practice:
Keep the old direct debit active until the closing statement confirms the account is settled.
Make sure the forwarding address is correct on the closing account so correspondence reaches you.
Read the first bill from the new borough carefully, as an opening bill sometimes covers only a partial period or shows instalments in a slightly unusual pattern.
File the final statement with your tenancy or completion documents so you can refer back to it if anything is queried later.
Checking the council tax band at your new address
Before the first bill arrives, it is worth checking the band assigned to the new property. Council tax bands in England are based on property values as they stood on 1 April 1991, and two similar-looking flats in the same street can sometimes sit in different bands because of how they were assessed at that time.
The band for any property in England can be checked through the Valuation Office Agency at gov.uk/council-tax-bands. This takes about a minute and tells you the band and the billing authority responsible, and many councils also link to this checker from their own sites.
If the band appears out of line with genuinely comparable nearby properties, there is a formal process to challenge it through the VOA. The strongest challenges are based on similar neighbouring properties in a lower band, rather than a general sense that the bill seems high. The official plain English guide to paying the right level of council tax sets out how the challenge and appeal process works in straightforward terms.
Common council tax questions when moving home
Do I need to tell the council before I move or after?
You can notify most councils up to about one month before your moving date, and many actively encourage you to tell them as soon as the date is confirmed. As a rule of thumb, tell both the old and new council straight away once the dates are fixed.
What if I am moving to a furnished rental and the landlord pays council tax?
In some furnished lettings, the landlord is liable rather than the tenant, which means the bill stays in the landlord’s name. Check your tenancy agreement and any welcome pack from the agent or landlord. If the landlord is liable, you do not need to register for council tax yourself, but it is worth confirming this in writing so there is no confusion later.
What happens if there is a gap between moving out and moving in?
If you are staying temporarily with family or in short-term rented accommodation between properties, you may still be liable at your old address until the tenancy or ownership ends, and different rules can apply to empty properties depending on the council. Notify the old council of the exact leaving date and keep documentation such as tenancy agreements, completion statements and any temporary letting agreements.
Can I be charged council tax at two addresses at the same time?
Yes, in some situations. If your tenancy at the new address starts before your tenancy at the old address ends, or if you complete on the purchase of a new property before selling your previous home, you may be liable at both for the overlapping period. Councils may have limited discounts or discretion for certain overlap cases, so it is worth contacting them and explaining your position.
What if the previous occupier is still linked to the address?
If you receive bills or letters addressed to the previous occupier, contact the new council directly and provide your move-in documentation so they can update the record. Do not ignore bills addressed to someone else at your address, as unresolved account issues can cause delays or enforcement action that then needs unpicking.
How long does it take to receive the first bill at the new address?
This varies by borough, but it is typically within a few weeks of registration. If you need the bill quickly as proof of address, for example to apply for a residents’ parking permit, contact the council and explain, as some councils can issue a confirmation letter or email in the meantime.
Make moving day easier with professional London removals
Keeping the move day admin organised is easier when the practical side runs on time. A late van, a bay that is not clear, or a building with no lift booking can push the whole day back and compress the time available to deal with everything else, including council tax notifications and other address changes.
Best London Removals has been based in Ruislip since 2011 and works across all London boroughs. Fixed-price quotes, surveyed moves and local knowledge of borough access rules, parking restrictions and building requirements all help keep moving day on schedule so the admin around it stays manageable too.
If the move is still being planned, the London house removals page covers what a fully managed move looks like. The moving house checklist pulls together the broader task list so council tax sits alongside the rest of the admin rather than getting lost in the unpacking.
For anyone thinking about costs at the same time, knowing your removal costs in advance helps keep the full budget in view from the start and makes it easier to plan the move and the bills that follow.
