The Welsh Government has made a targeted set of changes to council tax exemption rules through the Council Tax (Discounts, Disregards and Exemptions) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. According to the legislation.gov.uk text of Welsh Statutory Instrument 2026 No. 118, the instrument was made on 24 September 2026, with most provisions taking effect on 30 October 2026 and one Class H amendment delayed until 1 April 2027. This is not a broad rewrite of council tax law in Wales. The Regulations amend regulation 29 of the Council Tax (Discounts, Disregards and Exemptions) (Wales) Regulations 2026, with the stated purpose of clarifying existing exemptions, correcting an omission and setting clearer rules for how some empty dwellings are treated.
For Classes A and C, the main change concerns what happens when an exempt dwelling is sold. The explanatory note says the amendment is intended to make clear that where a person buys a dwelling on or after 1 April 2026, and that dwelling had previously benefited from an exemption under one of those classes, the new owner must be granted a further exemption if the relevant class conditions are met, even if the previous owner’s exemption has already ended. The legal text also adds a definition of purchase for both classes. For purchases made on or after 30 October 2026, the transaction must be carried out at fair market value. That gives councils a clearer statutory test when deciding whether a buyer qualifies for a fresh exemption period under Class A or Class C.
The practical effect is twofold. First, a change of ownership should not by itself block access to an exemption where the property still falls within the terms of the relevant class. Secondly, the fair market value requirement narrows the rule to genuine sales, rather than transfers at a nominal figure or other arrangements that do not reflect an open-market transaction. For billing authorities, this is a drafting amendment with operational weight. Revenues teams will need to look not only at the condition of the dwelling and the timing of occupation, but also at whether the sale meets the statutory fair market value test from 30 October 2026 onward.
Class F, which concerns dwellings linked to a death, is also amended. The Regulations replace the English-language wording in paragraph 1(a) so that the class applies where the dwelling has been unoccupied since the date of death of the deceased. The explanatory note says this provision had been omitted in error when the 2026 Regulations were prepared for making. A second Class F amendment is likely to matter more in day-to-day administration. When deciding whether a dwelling has been unoccupied for a period specified in that class, any single period of occupation lasting no more than six weeks must be disregarded.
In plain terms, a short return to occupation will not automatically break the continuity of the exemption calculation for a Class F dwelling. That matters in probate and estate cases, where a property may briefly be lived in or used while personal representatives deal with urgent arrangements, clearance work or a pending sale. The six-week rule does not remove the need to satisfy the rest of the Class F conditions. It simply settles how a brief interruption is treated. For executors, advisers and council officers, that should reduce uncertainty in cases where a property is mostly empty but not continuously unused in a strict day-by-day sense.
Class H is being changed on a different timetable. From 1 April 2027, any period during which a dwelling held for religious purposes was unoccupied before that date must be ignored when assessing the unoccupied period required under the class. In effect, the statutory clock for that part of the exemption starts from 1 April 2027 rather than from an earlier vacancy date. That gives religious bodies and billing authorities a clear commencement point for the revised rule. Historic vacancy before 1 April 2027 must not be counted when councils decide whether a Class H exemption applies after that date.
The Regulations were made under section 4(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, with the function now exercised by the Welsh Ministers, and the instrument is signed by Elin Jones on 24 September 2026. The accompanying note states that the Welsh Ministers considered their Code of Practice on regulatory impact assessments and concluded that a separate assessment of likely costs and benefits was not necessary. For practitioners, the main dates are clear. Councils in Wales will need to apply the Class A, Class C and Class F amendments from 30 October 2026, then move to the revised Class H timing rule from 1 April 2027. Buyers of previously exempt dwellings, personal representatives handling estates and religious bodies should all review how local authorities will check fair market value, short periods of occupation and the correct start date for counting vacancy under the amended rules.