Council Tax premium
The only piece of legislation made available to the Local Authorities specifically for the treatment of empty residential property is the Empty Property Premium which can be applied at the discretion of the Authority to long term (over 2 years) unfurnished empty property. This can be up to 300% and is applied over and above the full Council Tax normally payable on the property. The table below gives the detail of the Council Tax premium that will be applied over the next few years.
| Effective date | Empty period | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| 1 April 2019 | 2 year + | 100% |
| 1 April 2020 |
2 to 5 years 5 years + |
100% 200% |
| 1 April 2021 |
2 to 5 years 5 years + 10 years + |
100% 200% 300& |
There are 2 statutory exemptions to this premium which are:
- a dwelling which would otherwise be the sole or main residence of a member of the armed services, who is absent from the property as a result of such service
- a dwelling, which forms part of a single property that is being treated by a resident of that property as part of the main dwelling.
The council will seek to apply the full Council Tax premium subject to these statutory exemptions and the discretionary exemptions below.
The council will apply discretion in the following cases when applying the full Council Tax premium:
- where the owner places their property on the market at a reasonable market value
- where the owner places their property on the market for rent at an average rent for the type and area for that property
- where a property requires extensive works to bring the property back into use and the owner proposes and demonstrates a commitment to execute a scheme of works with a commitment to reoccupy, sell or rent.