A shared model would give each of you a portion and stop there. Joint and several gives the council the whole balance against each of you separately, and it chooses which of you to collect it from.

The rule sits under the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Below is what it means in practice, which households it covers, what a separation does to it, and what to do when a bill or a deduction has already landed.

It means each of you is liable for the entire balance rather than for a portion of it. The council can recover all of it from one person, and that person’s own payments do not cap their exposure.

A share model and joint and several, side by side

The middle column is what liability would look like if the bill were split into shares. The right column is what joint and several liability gives a council instead.

Read the right column as a set. Each line follows from the same rule, which is that the whole obligation sits on each liable adult at the same time.

What that does and does not say about you

It is a rule about the debt rather than a judgement about conduct. Being pursued for the whole balance does not mean the council has decided the arrears are your fault.

It also does not stop you sorting the position out between yourselves. What it stops is that arrangement being an answer to the council.

No. For a couple living together the liability applies regardless of the name the council printed, so a bill addressed to one partner does not put the other in the clear.

The name records who is being written to

An address on an envelope is an administrative fact about correspondence. Liability comes from the position each of you holds in the dwelling, plus the couple rule on top of it.

The same goes for who paid. Funding the bill from your account for years does not make you solely liable, and never having paid a penny of it does not make you not liable.

Two situations where the answer is different

In a house in multiple occupation the owner is liable and the residents are not, which is covered in are tenants or landlords liable in Scotland. Where two adults share a home without being a couple, the hierarchy alone decides it.

An owner living with a lodger is liable as the resident owner, because the ladder stops on the top rung. The full order is set out in what makes you liable for council tax.

Couples living together, joint owners who both live there, and joint tenants who both live there. Two adults sharing a home without being a couple are decided by the hierarchy alone.

Eight household situations and where each one lands

The middle column is the reason, which is worth knowing because it tells you what evidence changes the answer.

Cohabitees are inside the rule on the same footing as spouses and civil partners. The rule turns on living together as a couple at the property.

Where the hierarchy does the work instead

Adults on the same rung of the hierarchy are jointly and severally liable whether or not they are a couple, so two flatmates on one joint tenancy are in the same position. Our council tax liability page sets out how the two rules fit together.

That turns on the dates and on the basis the council holds for each of you, so ask in writing for a year by year breakdown. That is the document that shows which years are actually in dispute.

What to ask the council for

Ask for a year by year breakdown before you agree the figure, and ask which year each part of the balance belongs to. Ask as well for the basis on which the council holds each of you liable.

How payments get applied

Payments are normally allocated to the oldest year of arrears first unless you say otherwise. Council policies vary, so put in writing which year each payment is for.

That matters where you accept one year and dispute another. A short covering note with the payment reference protects you later, and our council tax debt advice page covers what to put in it.

Spouses, civil partners and cohabitees are jointly liable regardless of whose name is on the bill, and that liability is joint and several. Ask the council in writing to confirm the basis and the dates it holds for each of you.

What moves and what does not

The left column is the event. The middle column is what it changes, and the right column is what you can send the council.

An agreement between two people is binding between those two people. It is not something a third party who was never part of it has to work around.

Closing the period cleanly

• Tell the council in writing the date you moved out, with your new address.
• Ask for a closing statement showing the balance for the period you were jointly liable.
• Ask for a year by year breakdown of anything still outstanding.
• Keep copies of every letter, email and reference number.

Where you are now the only adult counted at your address, the single person discount of 25% applies from the date the household changed. Council Tax Reduction is a separate claim based on income and can cover up to 100% of the liability.

Where the separation involved domestic abuse or you have safety concerns about contact, say so to the council or to a money adviser. You do not have to handle the negotiation yourself.

Yes. Once a summary warrant has been granted the council can instruct sheriff officers to execute an earnings arrestment against a liable person, taking a set amount from net pay each pay period.

How the warrant stage works

A summary warrant is granted by the sheriff court on the council’s application, with no hearing, and a 10% statutory surcharge is added to the outstanding council tax when it is granted. What leads up to it is set out in what happens if you do not pay your council tax.

For council tax collected under a summary warrant, the council can move to an earnings arrestment without first serving a charge for payment. That is why a payslip deduction can be the first thing somebody notices.

How much comes off

Deductions come out of net earnings, after tax, National Insurance and pension contributions, on the statutory tables in force since 6 April 2025 under SSI 2024/293. How much they can take from your wages sets out the bands and the protected threshold, and our wage arrestment calculator runs your own figure.

Whether both of you can be arrested at once

Only one diligence against earnings can operate against the same employment at a time under the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987, and a current maintenance arrestment is the exception that can run alongside one.

Each liable person has their own employment, so a deduction against one of you does not by itself prevent one against the other.

Any payment taken reduces the same balance. Take a deduction against both of you to a money adviser with both payslips.

What stops a deduction that has already started

An approved Debt Payment Programme under the Debt Arrangement Scheme stops an existing earnings arrestment and prevents creditors starting new diligence. Council tax arrears can be included, and ongoing current-year council tax cannot and has to keep being paid.

A statutory moratorium gives six months of protection and you get one per rolling 12 months. It stops service of a charge for payment, stops new diligence and stops creditor petitions for sequestration.

It does not stop a creditor obtaining a decree, and interest and charges keep accruing throughout. It is applied for through the Accountant in Bankruptcy, usually through a money adviser.

Whether a programme suits your position is a question for an adviser looking at both incomes. Does a Debt Arrangement Scheme stop a wage arrestment and how to stop a wage arrestment cover the routes in more detail.

Write to the council with the dates each adult lived at the property, ask for a breakdown by year, and claim every discount, exemption or reduction that fits. Keep paying what you accept is yours while it is checked.

What to ask for in writing

• The basis on which the council holds each of you liable, and for which years.
• A year by year breakdown of the balance, separating tax from the surcharge and any expenses.
• Confirmation of the move-in and move-out dates the council has recorded for each adult.
• Any discount or exemption you say applies, with the date you say it should run from.

Discounts, exemptions and the disabled band reduction carry no statutory maximum backdating period, so entitlement runs from when the conditions were met. How far back a council goes is discretionary and evidence-led.

If the council will not move

Liability appeals go to the Local Taxation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal, which replaced the Valuation Appeal Committee and the Council Tax Reduction Review Panel on 1 April 2023. The deadline recorded for a liability appeal is four months, so confirm the current position before you rely on a date.

If the balance is right and the problem is affording it

There is no statutory maximum period for spreading council tax arrears, and how long a council will agree to is a matter for it. Setting up a council tax payment arrangement covers what an offer needs to contain.

A special payment arrangement and formal options such as a Debt Payment Programme are worth putting to an adviser together rather than one at a time.

Non-payment of council tax cannot lead to imprisonment in Scotland, and council tax arrears do not appear on a credit file. Neither point changes the balance, and both take some pressure off the decision.