The law related to Council Tax

Council Tax pays for the services the council provides to the people of Rochdale borough.

Your Council Tax also contributes towards Greater Manchester services. These are called precepts and have always appeared on your bill.

Our authority to charge Council Tax comes from the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

We have a responsibility to charge and recover Council Tax, but this doesn't mean it introduces a fiduciary relationship. A fiduciary relationship is a commitment to act in the best interests of another person or entity.

Your liability to pay

You don't have a choice of whether you are charged Council Tax. This is determined by law.

Council Tax does not require your consent or a contract with the council. The issue of a Council Tax Demand Notice (the bill) creates the debt.

It isn't a criminal offence to not pay Council Tax. However, it's a criminal offence to not supply information without reasonable excuse in response to a Request for Information. It's also a criminal offence to knowingly or recklessly supply false information.

You can be imprisoned for up to 3 months if your failure to make payment is due to wilful refusal or culpable neglect.

Whether a name is legal or fictional is irrelevant for the purposes of Council Tax. Freemen of the Land are still liable to pay Council Tax.

If you have any concerns over the charging of Council Tax, please seek professional legal advice.

Legislation related to Council Tax

The legislation that covers Council Tax can be found on the government's website and includes:

Our authority to charge Council Tax comes from the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

Requests for information

We do our best to answer all relevant questions about Council Tax. However, we reserve the right to refuse to respond to enquiries that focus on hypothetical arguments which use the council's resources at the expense of other residents.