By council
Brighton and Hove council tax 2026/27
A unitary city by the sea with a large student population, one parish and several garden squares that set their own charge.
Brighton and Hove, Band C, 2026/27
£2,294a year
First payment £232.81, then 9 of £229.00
| Band C charge | £2,293.81 |
| Bill for the year | £2,293.81 |
Band C at 8/9 of Band D.
Where the council tax goes
How Brighton and Hove compares
Band D here is £2,580.54, number 48 of 296 in England (1 = dearest). The same band in Wandsworth, the cheapest, costs £914 on the same terms.
Think the band is wrong? How a band challenge works
For 2026/27, Brighton and Hove City Council charges £2,580.54 at Band D for a household of two adults, which is £124 more than the £2,456.78 of last year, an increase of 5.0 %. Because the city is a unitary authority there is no separate county council: the bill combines the city charge of £2,180.42, which includes £41.52 for adult social care, with £281.91 for policing and £117.49 for fire and rescue. A Band C home, the setting used by the calculator, pays £2,293.81 a year, about £191.15 a month over twelve instalments. Among the 64 councils of the South East, Brighton and Hove ranks 15 from the dearest at Band D. A house shared only by full-time students pays nothing, and one where a single working adult lives with students gets 25 % off.
Figures checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the bill is worked out
Bands A to H in the city
| Band | Share of D | Two adults | Living alone | Each of 10 payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band A | 6/9 | £1,720.36 | £1,290.27 | £172.04 |
| Band B | 7/9 | £2,007.09 | £1,505.32 | £200.71 |
| Band C | 8/9 | £2,293.81 | £1,720.36 | £229.38 |
| Band D | 9/9 | £2,580.54 | £1,935.40 | £258.05 |
| Band E | 11/9 | £3,153.99 | £2,365.49 | £315.40 |
| Band F | 13/9 | £3,727.45 | £2,795.59 | £372.75 |
| Band G | 15/9 | £4,300.90 | £3,225.68 | £430.09 |
| Band H | 18/9 | £5,161.08 | £3,870.81 | £516.11 |
The figures apply across the city except in Rottingdean and the three garden enclosures, where the council adds a small local charge. The council lists the enclosures as Hanover Crescent, Marine Square and Royal Crescent and publishes a separate table of charges for each of them, so a household there should check its own bill rather than this table. The parish average of £0.72 in the Band D figure above is Rottingdean's precept spread over the whole city.
Student houses and mixed households
Brighton has a large student population, much of it in shared rented houses. The council applies the national student rules: a course of at least one academic year and 21 hours of study a week counts as full time, and for people under 20 on A level courses the threshold is three months and 12 hours. A house where everyone qualifies is exempt during course dates, but tax is due again in any gap between courses. When one adult is not a student, that adult pays with the single person reduction, because students are disregarded when the council counts adults. The city asks for registration numbers or certificates from each student and checks the course dates with the place of study. More detail is in the students guide and the disregards guide.
Brighton and Hove against the Sussex districts
To the east and west of the city, bills are split between a district or borough, a county council, the police and fire. The total still ends up close to the city figure, as the table shows on Band C and Band D.
| Council | Type | Band C | Band D | Change on 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton and Hove | Unitary authority | £2,293.81 | £2,580.54 | 5.0 % |
| Adur | Shire district | £2,265.14 | £2,548.28 | 4.8 % |
| Worthing | Shire district | £2,183.23 | £2,456.13 | 4.8 % |
| Mid Sussex | Shire district | £2,199.34 | £2,474.26 | 5.0 % |
| Lewes | Shire district | £2,449.93 | £2,756.17 | 4.9 % |
| Wealden | Shire district | £2,425.27 | £2,728.43 | 4.6 % |
| Eastbourne | Shire district | £2,359.36 | £2,654.28 | 4.8 % |
The South East average Band D is £2,475.45, so the city charge is £105 above it. The South East page lists every council in the region.
Second homes, holiday flats and empty homes
Since 1 April 2025 a furnished property that is nobody's main home, whether a weekend flat or a furnished let between tenants, pays a 100 % premium from the first day it is empty. Unfurnished homes empty for over a year pay 100 % extra, rising to 200 % after five years and 300 % after ten. A Band B house empty for five years therefore costs £6,021.27 instead of £2,007.09. The GOV.UK page and the second home guide explain the exceptions, such as homes on the market for sale or let.