End tax break on second homes, says Shelter

Homeless charity Shelter is calling for the council tax discount on second homes to be abolished.

Its new report, ‘Taking Stock’, which looks at ways to maximise England’s existing housing supply, shows that ending the discount for the 252,000 second homes nationwide would raise up to £42m. 

Shelter says this could be invested in new homes to help address what it calls the country’s escalating housing crisis.

The report also proposes that councils are given powers to set council tax higher than the standard rate, for properties that are rarely in use.

Currently councils can reduce council tax for second-home owners by up to 50%. This is offered by one in five local authorities across the country, with the remaining four in five offering a discount of 10%.

Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb said: “Our housing crisis has never run deeper, with millions on waiting lists and increasing numbers of young people unable to get on the housing ladder in their local area.

“But with government cuts of more than 60% to the budget for new homes, we need to explore every possible way in which existing housing stock can be used to ease our desperate shortage of affordable homes.

“The council tax discount is effectively a tax break for people with second homes which often lie empty for large parts of the year. Enabling councils to respond to local housing pressures and charge the full rate of council tax, or higher, would mean they could raise vital revenue that could be used to deliver affordable housing for local people.”