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Full Council. Full Council sets the budget and council tax and approves major plans.
Council tax premiums on long-term empty and second homes
The council approved these charges from 1 April 2025: a 100% premium on homes empty for one to five years, 150% for five to ten years and 200% for over ten years. It kept the 100% premium on second homes. It kept the exception for new owners of empty homes and for composite properties (homes that fall under both rules), and added a six-month exception for homes under renovation. It also agreed to receive a further report on possible direct action to bring empty homes back into use.
Full Council. Full Council sets the budget and council tax and approves major plans.
Council tax premiums on empty and second homes
Members approved the report's recommendations, so the premiums continue from 1 April 2026. Long-term empty homes will pay 100% extra if empty for one to five years, 150% extra for five to ten years, and 200% extra for over ten years. Second homes will pay 100% extra. Composite properties, which can fall under both premium types, will not pay a premium. The council also approved the power to take direct action where an owner is unlikely to bring a property back into use.
Items are linked when their titles share most of their words and they fall within 18 months of each other. Councils don't number reports across meetings, so a few links may be wrong, and a step may be missing if its title changed a lot. Each step links to the meeting, where the council's own papers are.