Campaigners behind the National Empty Homes Week - running until March 5 - are accusing some second home owners of “flipping” properties to become permanent short lets.
As a result, those owners would pay business rates rather than more expensive council tax.
The claim comes from the Action on Empty Homes group which says official figures show around 250,000 properties in England have stood empty for more than six months, while another 207,000 empty homes are covered by exemptions and do not pay any council tax.
That means thew official total vacancy now stands at over 686,000 but the campaigners say this isn’t the full picture as this “excludes a further 257,000 so-called 'second homes' or 'furnished empties' and over 70,000 second homes flipped to paying business rates as permanent short-lets.”
The campaigners claim that this means there are over 1m homes in England with no residents.
Action on Empty Homes now wants the government to strengthen Empty Dwelling Management Order powers and remove the need to prove vandalism, anti-social behaviour or dangerous dereliction are associated with an empty home before action can be taken.
It also want a new nationally-funded Empty Homes Programme with funding devolved to local councils so they can choose the right mix of 'stick and carrot' measures to deal with their local empty homes.
The campaign also raises the issue of second homes. It says: “One owner can own as many ‘second homes’ as they like and does not have to prove use of them as a ‘second home’, nor pay council tax penalties for leaving them empty and unused. So are these all 257,000 ‘second homes’ actually holiday homes?”
It says these are unlikely to all be holiday homes as thousands are in cities like Bradford or Leicester, and because many holiday homes let commercially are registered for business rates and fall outside this data.
Action on Empty Homes want the UK government to apply to England similar rules to those now under consideration in Scotland and Wales where short lets are to have some for of licensing and/or require planning consent.
Director of Action on Empty Homes Rebecca Moore says: “There are over one million homes without residents in England and there are hundreds of thousands of people in housing need. We must act now and long-term empty homes and unused second homes - which make up over 530,000 of those homes without residents – are a good place to start.
“These are homes you can’t rent and you can’t buy but they could offer vitally needed housing. During a national housing crisis we cannot afford to see half a million homes stand empty because of the lack of a government strategy to support councils to bring them back into use.”
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So they appear to be saying that because you have done well in life, worked hard and made some sensible financial decisions…… They should decide what happens to your assets ? 🫤 North Korea 🇰🇵 must see this once great country as a kindred spirit.
Alternatively Council Tax could be charged on all residential properties. If a building can be lived in surely it should pay for services it is capable of receiving. The exemptions and discounts are often bizarre and financially hard to justify. Why are student houses exempt? Why does a multi millionaire get a discount just because they live alone? Why does a holiday let (which may charge more for a week than a traditional BTL would charge for a month) pay much lower business rates?
Perhaps it would make more sense to charge full CT on everything and then have a CT Benefit that could be claimed in specific circumstances. For example a straight £500 a year Benefit that could be claimed by any household with an income below £25000, any UK student with a permanent residency right, any landlord or developer doing building work that requires the building to be vacant, etc.
Jo
I think PEOPLE not properties should pay for services used, not for services they are capable of receiving.
I'm capable of having tea at the Ritz, drinking 15 pints of beer, cavorting with loose women but don't want to pay for them if I don't use them.
TBH there was nothing wrong with the Poll Tax, it was after all the fairest way
Robert - just curious. Would you be cavorting with loose women after drinking 15 pints of beer?
Andrew - I'm sure Poll Tax was perfectly fair for anyone living in a house on their own or with just one other adult.
For those of us who were living in a small 4 bedroom terrace as a household of 6 adults (me, my boyfriend, my sister, her boyfriend, my au pair and her boyfriend) plus 3 children Poll Tax was extortionate.
Jo
After 15 pints I probably wouldn't remember anyway!!
I agree with Andrew that the Community Charge was the fairest way, with appropriate exemptions for unemployed adults.
With Council Tax a widow living in the family home, pays 75% of the amount paid by the neighbours with 4 or more working adults living next door.
Incidentally Poll Tax and Bedroom Tax are the two
taxes most reviled by the lefties but neither existed!
Jo. I agree for most part except when landlords property is vacant for Refurbishment. I had to pay C/tax after Tenants wrecked my new house that I built in Acton.
I don’t understand why they are complaining about empty property that Activist are causing landlords so peed off. They need to ask themselves some questions why would anyone leave a property idle when they could get some money for it, that says it all too much interference.
Why complain about empty property that is a Requirement of Law not to be Let, the 90 day Rule ?.
The empty for refurbishment exemption can be very frustrating. I can't remember if it's 3 or 6 months or if it's supposed to be free or half price. Anyway there's usually some reason why you can't claim it. The last one I bought was newly converted but not quite finished enough to let. I couldn't get any discount on that one because the developer had fully claimed it. The one before that was during the pandemic so lockdowns caused delays and the discounted time period expired.
The empty for refurbishment exemption differs between councils, Norwich you stand no chance, where as Breckland, just down the road, I got a one off open ended exemption on a 70s bungalow with drain problems .
I am lucky enough to have a holiday home that I don’t let out because all my stuff is there and I don’t want to keep moving it. I pay full CT and hardly ever use the council services, but they are available for me when I go so I am not complaining. I also own an identical property that I am going to let out on holiday lets, I will register for business rates, etc because that is the correct financial decision. But I find this situation bizarre as the people staying still get their bins emptied, etc so why should the house be tax free? I have always found this loophole controversial and wouldn’t have a problem if it were removed.
If Council Tax was a tax for services a household uses rather than a revenue stream for all Council Services and a punitive tax on LLs perhaps people wouldn’t try so hard to avoid it!
I respectfully disagree Tricia. Who would clean the streets, who would police the streets, who would empty your bins? How would social care and environmental services be paid for if no-one pays CT. To call it a punitive tax on landlords is wrong in my opinion. If you do not have a full time tenant paying their share of these services then as a landlord you should make that home’s contribution. If it is empty and undergoing refurbishment there should be a break, but it should be time limited to allow you to refurb.
Duncan, I think you misunderstood me. I am happy for C Tax for the services you mention. My point is that Councils charge a punitive tax on empty properties to increase their revenue stream at a time when they are not requiring any of the service. Given they do not have sufficient funds for their statutory duties they look to raise funds any way they can. Most used to offer at least a short free period between tenants, mine now charge for every day empty, ramping it up as soon as they can, discouraging LLs from between tenants maintenance. Maybe that is why people are trying to avoid it.
Gotcha Tricia, agreed
Tricia, it's impossible to avoid council tax, the courts are basically medieval here. I do not believe the stories about empty properties
The problem is immigration. The home office has a dispersal programme, where young men are dispersed around the country, Carmarthenshire has just altered it's housing policy to take 151 young men this year, ie queue jumpers ! No doubt they will bring in wives and relatives.
There is a 14 day c/tax exemption that I know to my cost, even if it’s un inhabitable but it took me 3 months.
For property just standing idle the C/tax is doubled.
I don’t know anymore and if it based on property values, I think you could be paying £2’000, down south but you could also be paying this amount on band D property in Norwich where I believe property prices are one third of the price ?.
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