Council Tax Premium in Cotswolds: Second Homes and Empty Properties

Cotswold is going full-throttle: double council tax on second homes from 1 April 2025, and 200-400% total on long-term empties depending how long they have sat vacant.

Second homes - premium, definition, timing

• From 1 April 2025, Cotswold will charge a 100% Second Homes Premium on top of the normal bill.
• That means you pay 200% council tax on any qualifying second home.
• Full Council agreed this in March 2024, explicitly to use the new Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 powers; they issued the mandatory 12-month notice to all second-home owners at the same time.

Definition:

The report and minutes define second homes as "dwellings that are no one's sole or main residence and which are substantially furnished". In normal language: furnished, but not actually lived in as anybody's main home.

Numbers and money:

• The March 2024 Cabinet report says there are about 1,500 second homes in the district, all currently paying 100% council tax.
• Around 20% of those are flagged as "potentially impacted" in the discussion (for example, those not already on business rates or in exempt classes).
• The report models the 100% premium raising c. GBP 2.4 million a year in gross extra council tax across all precepting bodies once fully in place.

Roughly 1,500 second homes in the Cotswolds will be billed at double council tax from April 2025, generating around GBP 2-2.5 million a year in extra council tax.

Long-term empty properties - premium bands

From 1 April 2024 the council is already using the maximum empty-home premiums allowed in England.

Applies to dwellings that are unoccupied and substantially unfurnished and have been empty for at least a year.

The long-term-empty page spells this out and warns that from 1 April 2024 "an additional Council Tax premium can be charged on properties that have been empty and substantially unfurnished for at least one year".

The empty-homes page then drives the point home: "Empty homes can cost their owners thousands of pounds a year in Council Tax (100% premium for those empty over one year), insurance, mortgage and repairs."

Exceptions and exemptions

Long-term empty premiums

Key exceptions set out on the long-term-empty page:

Class G (for sale) and Class H (to let): If your property is genuinely on the market for sale or let and meets the criteria, no premium is charged for up to 12 months. After those 12 months, if it is still empty, the appropriate premium band applies based on how long it has been empty.

Properties left empty following death: Properties left empty following the death of the owner / occupant with probate granted may receive special treatment, linking back to the standard Class F probate exemption and how it interacts with premiums.

If a property is in a full exemption class under the national rules (like certain probate periods, some care cases, student halls etc.), you do not pay the underlying council tax or the premium.

Second-home premium

For second homes, Cotswold is simply using the national framework under sections 11C-11D LGFA 1992. The reports say the council will levy a premium on "dwellings that are no one's sole or main residence and which are substantially furnished", with the usual national exceptions applying.

In practice, that means narrow statutory exceptions (mostly job-related dwellings, some annexes and armed-forces cases), but the key message is that most furnished second homes with no full-time resident will be caught.

Appeals and challenge route

Cotswold follows the standard England process.

1. If you think your property has been wrongly classified as a second home or long-term empty, or you qualify for an exception (for sale / to let, probate etc.), contact the council tax team and ask for a review.
2. Provide evidence: sales or letting marketing (with dates, agent details and realistic pricing), tenancy agreements and utility bills if the property is actually occupied, probate documentation if the owner has died.
3. If you still disagree after they have made a decision, you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for England.

Challenge it in writing with evidence. If they refuse to change it, you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

Contact details and empty-homes team

All the premium detail sits under "Council Tax discounts and exemptions - Reductions for empty properties / Council Tax on Long Term Empty Properties" on the Cotswold site. The Empty homes page gives a route into the private-housing / empty-homes team, who work alongside Revenues to deal with problematic long-term empties.

Talk to the council tax and empty-homes teams early if you are sitting on an empty place. They can explain when the premium will kick in and what grants or enforcement tools are in play.

Numbers and revenue

• Second homes: approximately 1,500 in the Cotswold district, all currently subject to the full 100% council tax charge.
• Introducing a 100% second-home premium will support housing priorities by discouraging properties being taken out of use and provide additional council tax revenue for housing needs across the district.
• Empty-home numbers are not printed on the premium report, but the empty-homes policy and website are explicit that the stepped premiums are designed as a financial lever alongside enforcement (compulsory purchase orders, enforced sales) and support measures to bring empty stock back into use.

Cotswold District Council is now charging double council tax on second homes from April 2025 and up to four times the normal bill on long-term empties, targeting around 1,500 second homes and an even bigger pipeline of empties to help fund and free up housing.

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