Council Tax Second Home Premium

[Wings]

Just today received notification from Cornwall Council second home council tax premium of 100% increase from March 2025. Any other poster received similar notification from other local authorities?

[VTC]

From their own site :
Cornwall Council has agreed to charge an additional 100% Council Tax premium on second homes from 1 April 2025.

Proposed exceptions
The Government plans to introduce legislation before 1 April 2025 which will exempt certain categories of property from the second home premium:

Annexes forming part of, or being treated as part of, the main dwelling
Job related properties. This exception will not apply to cases where someone chooses to have an additional property to be closer to work while having a family home elsewhere or where an individual is posted to a new location but maintain their previous address
Properties being actively marketed for sale or let will have a 12-month exception to the premium
Properties undergoing probate will have a 12-month exception to the premium after probate or letters of administration have been granted
Seasonal homes where year-round or permanent occupation is prevented, and
Occupied caravan pitches and boat moorings
Job related accommodation
You may be able to get a discount if your home is left empty because you are required by your employer to move elsewhere for job related reasons.

[Bobtherallyfan]

Same for us with our houses in Somerset and Hampshire…apparently it’s poor show to have worked hard and invested in property as a pension plan.

[Unreal]

Bobtherallyfan said:

Same for us with our houses in Somerset and Hampshire…apparently it’s poor show to have worked hard and invested in property as a pension plan.

It's just the price you pay for owning multiple properties, just like you pay more tax based on your earnings.

I own multiple properties and accept that I'm taking up more space than I need so I need to pay for the privilege. I made the choice to have multiple smaller homes rather than one big one and there are pros and cons. The trend for penalising second home owners is the price I pay for exercising my choice, just like my VED bill based on my choice or planet destroyer or lentil mobile.

We should be grateful to have the option. The extra tax isn't that bad and if it is unaffordable then there's always the option of selling. I'm closer to fascist than communist but I can't argue with the policy, even if it will probably make little difference to the stated objectives.

[Mr Whippy]

It’d be ok if you knew the money would be well spent.

[TGCOTF-dewey]

Bobtherallyfan said:

Same for us with our houses in Somerset and Hampshire…apparently it’s poor show to have worked hard and invested in property as a pension plan.

It's a fair point, but the counter argument is that 'you're' taking up limited and not replaceable housing stock in areas where the wealth disparity is huge - tourist hot spots.

If I wander round our small town in winter, a large chunk of the houses are empty as they're owned as second homes. This also has a big impact on the community too.

This drives house values up where even a small cottage is 400-600k. Not remotely affordable for the next generation in these areas.

In one sense paying council tax and not seeing much value for it must be galling, but the opposite view is the sort of second home ownership I'm talking about has a detrimental impact on rural and coastal communities.

[Mr Whippy]

This, along with the proposed changes to holiday let mortgage interest offset (same as what happened to BTL), is likely going to see some changes in these touristy areas.

I was looking on RM last night and my local tourist town has a bunch of holiday let type properties on (more than I’ve ever seen for sale on the high street).
I’d put it down to the holiday let tax changes but notice N Yorkshire is also doing the 100% extra council tax for second homes.

One in particular was £450 ish in 2019 and up for £780 ish now. Near double.

I wonder how much these areas were stimulated by WFH, holiday let fever, stamp duty cuts etc etc…

There are so many factors at play now it’s hard to gauge value and prices.

[Roger Irrelevant]

Unreal said:

I own multiple properties and accept that I'm taking up more space than I need so I need to pay for the privilege. I made the choice to have multiple smaller homes rather than one big one and there are pros and cons. The trend for penalising second home owners is the price I pay for exercising my choice, just like my VED bill based on my choice or planet destroyer or lentil mobile.

We should be grateful to have the option. The extra tax isn't that bad and if it is unaffordable then there's always the option of selling. I'm closer to fascist than communist but I can't argue with the policy, even if it will probably make little difference to the stated objectives.

Bloody hell - somebody capable of seeing further than the end of their own nose and who understands that - even if they did arrive at where they are via 'hard work' - that doesn't make them Christ our Saviour and that their actions may nevertheless have a detrimental effect on wider society? On PH? You'll be tarred and feathered and run out of town with pitchforks for that.

To my mind this sort of thing was always a whopping clear risk with investing in multiple properties - the possibility that it would become politically palatable to clobber multiple homeowners with additional taxes. It's one of the reasons why I've steered clear and stuck with boring old tracker funds. With the UK's finances in the state they are and the demographic changes coming down the line I doubt very much the trend is going to reverse any time soon either.