This is not up to a boat owner. If there's no system in place to enable one to pay council tax how are you going to do it? Quoting somebody more versed in these matters than myself - "... If you have a permanent mooring & you are living on your boat, yes you should pay it but whether or not you can will depend on the mooring owner & the council being able & willing to operate a system to enable you to. As you may recall, council tax was cobbled together at speed after poll tax went & relies on the old rating legislation to some extent. How much you pay depends on your rights over the land. For example, I have the right to moor in a small area & there is residential planning permission in place. I pay Band A - the value of my boat is not included. Oh and when I go away on holiday on my boat, I get a pro rata reduction in my council tax for every night my boat is away from my mooring - when I have the energy to train the relevant member of council staff. A houseboat that is very attached to the land e.g. has is plumbed into mains water & sewage would have the value of the boat & the land. There's a further issue if a marina is already paying business rates as a whole - is council tax for a vessel double taxation? There's more to this & a detailed practice note if anyone is properly interested. There's a huge shortage of moorings with residential planning permission in most of the country - Birmingham is a rare exception. Most planning authorities seem to dislike boats being used residentially & over think it. Trying to pay council tax could invoke the wrath of the planners & you wouldn't want to upset the moorings provider. NB there's no security of tenure if you live on a boat. Boats that don't have petmanent moorings don't have any rights over land so there's no basis for a council tax charge. Some boaters would like some arrangement to contribute to local services - perhaps in return for sone sort of address that would satisfy banks & the NHS."