Second Home Premiums (From 1st April 2025)

From 1 April 2025, there will be an introduction of premiums for those properties registered as a second homes. 

The definition of a second home for Council Tax purposes is a dwelling which has "no one resident" but is "substantially furnished". 

Section 80 (2) of the Act inserts a new section 11C into the Local Government Finance Act 1992. This permits the Council to apply a premium on second homes. The maximum Council Tax charge in these cases would be a standard 100% charge plus a premium of 100% making a total Council Tax charge of 200%.

Unlike empty dwellings, there is no requirement for a property to have been used as a second home for a fixed period of time before the premium can apply. 

As with other changes introduced by the Act, section 11C (3) requires that the first decision to impose this class of premium must be taken at least 12 months before the financial year to which it would apply. In effect, this means that premiums for second homes will not take effect until the 2025-26 financial year at the earliest.

The council has resolved to charge second home premiums and has given the required notice.

The Act provides that a dwelling cannot be subject to both a second homes premium and an empty homes premium imposed under section 11B of the 1992 Act, and that an existing empty homes premium would cease to apply a property which has become subject to a second homes premium. 

Please view the premium policy [pdf] 235KB for further details. 

There are exceptions available to those that have been subjected to a premium charges, details of this can be found on our exceptions to premium charges page.