22 November 2002
Councils in England will be free to decide whether to keep the discount at the current rate or to levy council tax at levels as high as 90%. Councils will also be able to scrap discounts altogether for long-term empty property. There are an estimated 180,000 second homes and 400,000 empty residences in England.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister promised that local authorities would retain any extra council tax raised and be able to use it to improve local public services. The ODPM suggested that local authorities could plough the extra revenue into providing more affordable housing.
Nick Raynsford, the local government minister, said: 'In many areas, second homeowners can contribute strongly to communities. However, whether homeowners occupy a property only at weekends or for a few weeks in the summer or all year round, they still place a demand on local services.
'We believe it is only right that second homeowners pay a fair contribution to these costs. Indeed, the fact that second homeowners currently enjoy a 50% discount is a cause of resentment in several areas.'
Sir Jeremy Beecham, chair of the Local Government Association, welcomed the proposals, adding that they would enable councils to 'decide whether discounts are appropriate in the light of local circumstances, particularly housing availability, and to use the additional income to tackle housing and other needs of local people'.
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