There are several situations in which you will be entitled to a discount on the council tax for a property, and complete exemptions from council tax are possible in some cases.

Discounts will not happen automatically, so it is worth contacting your council if you think you should be getting a discount.

common council tax discounts:

Property has only one occupant

If you are the only person living in the property, then you can apply for a 25% single occupant discount.

It is also worth noting that some people (students for example) do not count towards the official number of people living in the property in this case, so a person living in a property with one or more exempt people will still be able to claim this discount.

Property is a second home

If you already pay council tax for another property, then you should get a discounted rate for your second home.  The discount you get is not a fixed amount, and will depend on the area in which you live amongst . Typically you can expect a discount between 10% and 50%.

Property has disabled occupant who requires extra space

If a property is occupied by a disabled person, and that person requires extra space in the property, then discount may be available.

The idea of this discount is to prevent disabled people from having to pay more council tax because of there extra needs in terms of space.  Disabled people that do not require a larger property will probably not be eligible.  Individual councils will have differing policies on how much of a discount you will receive.