Council tax set to increase on Sheffield long-term empty and second homes

The government has granted councils new powers from the 2024/25 financial year to double the council tax for homes that have been empty and substantially unfurnished for more than a year.

At present, the council tax long-term empty premium comes into force after two years. It rises to 200 per cent after five years and 300 per cent after 10 or more years.

Next year councils will also be allowed to increase council tax charges for second homes.

The issue will be discussed at a meeting of the city council’s finance committee next Wednesday (February 21). The committee will discuss adopting the charges and whether to delay the empty homes charge for a year.

The council can also decide not to adopt the charges but this does not seem likely when the authority is looking at how to deal with a financial squeeze on budgets.

Premium

A report to the committee said the idea behind bringing in the new powers is “to encourage more empty homes to be brought into productive use, increasing the supply of available housing, reduce the potential impact of anti-social behaviour associated with areas with high numbers of empty properties, whilst also enabling the council to raise and retain additional revenue to support local services”.

There are currently 973 dwellings subject to the empty homes premium in Sheffield and 1,491 dwellings that have been empty for between one and two years.

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The report also says that 389 homes that have been left empty following the death of the person liable for the charge and 93 that are empty as the liable person is in hospital or a care home currently receive a 100% council tax exemption.

This leaves 1,009 that would come under the rules once they were changed.

The new law also gives councils the power to apply a premium to second homes of up to 100 per cent of the council tax charge.

The report says: “Based on the 509 dwellings currently recorded on the council tax system, applying a 100 per cent premium would increase the amount of council tax owed by these dwellings by £874k.”