Council to continue charging higher council tax on second homes

Anthony Lewis, Local democracy reporter

A Welsh council has decided to continue charging higher levels of council tax on long term empty properties and second homes next year.

Merthyr Tydfil full council of Wednesday, February 11, approved the continuation of a 100% council tax premium on properties that have been empty for more than one year but less than five years for the 2026/2027 financial year.

They also agreed to continue to charge a 150% premium on properties that have been empty for more than five years but less than 10 years and a 200% premium for those empty for more than 10 years.

And full council also agreed to continue to charge a 100% council tax premium on second homes.

Composite properties still won’t be charged a premium but the full standard council tax would still apply.

The council could potentially take direct action to intervene with properties where it becomes clear that there is no realistic prospect of an owner taking any action to enable reuse.

As of December 31, 2025, there are 983 empty and unfurnished properties in Merthyr Tydfil of which 463 have been empty for from over six months to more than 20 years.

These figures show that there are also 202 properties that are defined as second homes in Merthyr Tydfil.

The revenue the council collected from these premiums in 2025/2026 up to December 31, 2025, when taking into account the cost of the revenue inspector/premium officer role was £427,904.18.

For the whole of 2024/2025 this figure was £592,953.95 with software costs included and for the whole of 2023/2024 the revenue collected was £322,632.

Since April, 2017, legislative changes made within the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 have given local authorities in Wales discretionary powers to charge a premium of up to 100% on top of the standard rate of council tax on long-term empty properties and second homes within their area.

From April, 2023, the Council Tax (Long-term Empty Dwellings and Dwellings Occupied Periodically) (Wales) Regulations 2022 allowed a local authority to set premium levels up to 300% for the 2023/2024 financial year and subsequent years.

The Act also includes regulations which make exceptions to the premiums.