Review of the Council Tax Premium Scheme for long term empty properties and second homes

Flintshire County Council issued a 12-week public consultation seeking views of the public and interested parties on if there should be any variation to the current Council Tax Premium Scheme that is charged on long-term empty properties and second homes.

The survey was available to complete online from 15 April 2024 to 8 July 2024 and awareness of the consultation was publicised through social media, the council website, and the issue of a press release in addition to writing directly to those owners currently paying the premium and the 34 Town and Community Councils.

We received 215 responses including those who are residents of Flintshire not subject to the premium, and both residents and non-residents of the county who currently pay a premium due to being the owner of a long-term empty property or second home.

The Consultation results were considered as part of a report debated at Full Council on 24 September 2024 in the determination by Elected Members of if the current premium scheme should be varied from April 2025.

In summary, for second home premiums, the consultation results confirmed:

• 39.7% felt that second homes had a negative impact on their local community compared to 23% who felt they had a positive impact.
• Over two thirds (67.3%) felt that the premium for second homes should remain at the current level, be reduced, or not charged at all, compared to 32.7% who felt it should be increased.

For long-term empty properties, the consultation results confirmed:

• 55.9% thought long-term empty properties have a negative impact on their local community compared to only 2.5% feeling they had a positive effect.
• 44.9% felt that the premium for long-term empty properties should be raised above the current level of 75%.
• Almost 44% of respondents felt that a long-term empty premium should be linked to the period it is unoccupied.

When asked about both long-term empty properties and second homes, almost 49% felt they decrease the availability of affordable housing with only 3.4% suggesting they increase availability, and 52.7% indicated that if the premium was to increase, the number of second homes and long-term empty properties may reduce.

Following debate of the issue of second homes and long-term empty properties in Flintshire, together with the results of the consultation, elected members determined that from 1 April 2025:

• The level of premium charged on second homes should remain unchanged at 100%
• The level of premium charged on long-term empty properties should be increased from 75% to 100%

Additionally, it was determined that for long-term empty properties only, that from 1 April 2026, the level of premium levied should increase the longer a property remains unoccupied to incentivise them to be brought back into use, in line with the scale below:

• 100% for properties that have been empty 1-3 years
• 150% for properties empty for 3 years or more
• 200% for properties empty for 5 years or more
• 300% for properties empty for 10 years or more.

The above variations to the scheme were agreed and will be implemented from the relevant dates.

The Flintshire County Council Website has been updated to reflect these future amendments and provide advance notice of the changes, and additionally, owners of long-term empty properties currently paying the premium have been issued with correspondence directly notifying them of the changes that may affect them providing opportunity to bring the property back into use before the effective dates