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Council tax premium proposed on empty homes
Published: 08/02/2016
天涯社区 will review the proposal to introduce a council tax
premium on long-term empty and second homes from April 2017.
The introduction of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 now gives local authorities in
Wales the discretion to charge up to a 100% council tax premium on long term
empty properties and properties with a second homes/holiday homes.
The Council can charge a premium on these properties at any rate between 0% and
100%. However, the Council must decide to introduce a premium and, if so, how
much, 12 months in advance of the premium taking effect.
The Council has, for many years, adopted a policy of not providing a council
tax discount on long term empty homes or second homes. The introduction of a
premium on top of the council tax will help to address local housing need by
encouraging owners of empty and second homes properties to bring those
properties back into full use.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Aaron Shotton, said, 鈥淚n the current economic
climate, the Council needs to find as many opportunities to increase income as
possible in order to protect our services from austerity. It is also important
that the Council does all it can to ensure that as many of the over 800 empty
properties in our County are brought back into use. The council offers empty
property owners a variety of ways to help them get their properties back into
full use, including loans and grant schemes. We are proposing a 50% premium for
the first year.
For more information on ways to help, please see the housing section on the
天涯社区 website www.flintshire.gov.uk.