Council Tax Premium in Pembrokeshire: Second Homes and Empty Properties

Pembrokeshire is the textbook example of the Welsh 300% powers in action: as of April 2026 you are on 250% total council tax on most second homes and 400% total on long-term empties (2+ years).

Second homes - current premium, Welsh powers, numbers

Current rate and timeline

Pembrokeshire uses the Welsh Housing (Wales) Act 2014 powers to set second-home premiums above the English 100% cap, within the national up-to-300% framework.

Welsh law: councils can charge up to 300% premium (so up to 400% total) on second homes and long-term empties.

Pembrokeshire's second-home page and explanatory notes show this progression:

Media and council consultation material confirm that cut: councillors decided in late 2024 to reduce the extra charge from 200% to 150% from April 2025, after only six months at the maximum 200% premium.

So for your April 2026 position:

• Second-home premium: 150% premium in addition to the standard bill.
• Total council tax on a second home: 250% of the normal charge.

Definition of a "second home" vs sole/main residence

Pembrokeshire follows the Welsh national definition:

• Second home: "a dwelling which is not a person's sole or main home and is substantially furnished".
• Sole / main residence: as usual, the place where someone normally lives, works from, is registered with a GP, etc. You can only have one sole / main residence at any time (standard UK test).

If your property in Pembrokeshire is furnished and not genuinely someone's main home, from April 2025 onwards you are looking at 250% council tax unless you qualify for an exception or get onto business rates as a holiday let.

Welsh-specific context and numbers

• Pembrokeshire: 3,940 second homes, premium 150% (200% in 2024, cut to 150% from 2025).
• Welsh councils can set premiums up to 300% and keep the additional revenue for local housing needs.
• The 200% premium year (300% total) made a Band D second-home bill "circa GBP 5,000 a year" before the cut.

Long-term empty properties - premium structure and changes

Pembrokeshire has gone all-in on the long-term empty side and by 2026 is using the full 300% premium on empties over two years.

Current premium and duration bands

The council's empty properties page plus a January 2025 news release set out the picture:

Past structure (before simplification):

• From 1 April 2019: 25% premium on long-term empties (125% total).
• From 1 April 2021: 100% premium on properties empty 5+ years (200% total).

New structure agreed December 2023 and confirmed January 2025:

From 1 April 2025 there is one rate for all long-term empty properties:

The council is explicit that this change is meant "to encourage the return of properties into use as much-needed homes in Pembrokeshire and to reduce the impact of empty homes on communities".

Short-term empty discount and grants

• There is still a short-term empty discount that "is normally awarded for up to a maximum period of 12 months" when a property first becomes empty; you have to apply for it via Revenue Services.
• Pembrokeshire participates in the National Empty Homes Grant Scheme, offering up to GBP 25,000 per property to bring long-term empties back into use.

Yes the premium is painful, but there is grant money on the table if you bring the property back into use.

Exceptions - second homes and empties

Both second-home and empty-home premiums in Wales sit on top of the usual statutory exception classes.

Long-term empty premium - statutory exceptions

Pembrokeshire's empty properties page lists four statutory classes where the empty-home premium does not apply, even if the property has been empty for 2+ years:

• Class 1: Dwellings being marketed for sale - time-limited to one year.
• Class 2: Dwellings being marketed for let - time-limited to one year.
• Class 3: Annexes forming part of, or treated as part of, the main dwelling.
• Class 4: Dwellings that would otherwise be the sole or main residence of a person who is resident in armed forces accommodation.

Where one of these applies, you still pay the standard 100% council tax, but no long-term empty premium, for the allowed period.

Second-home premium - exceptions

The second-home page uses the same Welsh statutory exception categories and similar wording. Marketing for sale or let (time-limited), annexes and armed forces cases can be excepted from the second-home premium using the same four classes.

The Welsh-specific twist: the class-based exception system and the higher caps (up to 300% premium), with a presumption that you pay the premium unless you neatly fit one of those four classes and tell the council.

Appeals and challenge process

Pembrokeshire follows the normal Welsh process:

1. Contact Revenue Services if you believe your property has been wrongly classed as a second home or long-term empty, or if you qualify for an exception (eg Class 1-4).
2. Typical evidence: for sale/let (agent contract, listing screenshots, realistic asking price), for occupation (tenancy agreement, utility bills, electoral registration), for armed forces (MoD assignment documentation).
3. If, after the council issues a decision, you still disagree, you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for Wales, the equivalent of the Valuation Tribunal for England but for Welsh council tax disputes.

Dispute the premium in writing with Revenue Services and evidence. If they will not change it, you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for Wales.

Council tax contacts - Pembrokeshire

• Revenues / council tax email: revenue.services@pembrokeshire.gov.uk (listed in the empty-homes premium change news release).
• Postal address: Revenue Services, County Hall, Haverfordwest, SA61 1TP.
• All second-home and empty-home premium information is under the "Council Tax discounts - second homes / empty properties" section of the council website.

Numbers of second homes and revenue raised

Number of second homes

• Pembrokeshire: 3,940 second homes, making it the second-highest Welsh county for second-home numbers, after Gwynedd.
• Welsh Government's 2025-26 council tax dwellings statistics back up the broader trend: 21 Welsh authorities now charge premiums, and the number of properties classed as second homes for council tax is rising.

Revenue raised and expected

• Pembrokeshire is "set to receive nearly GBP 12.5 million from the council tax premium on second homes and empty properties", based on public Q&A at a 2025 council meeting.
• Under Welsh rules, local authorities keep all additional premium revenue, with taxbase calculations adjusted so it is not clawed back.

Pembrokeshire expects to raise around GBP 12.5 million a year from its second-home and long-term-empty council tax premiums, and under Welsh rules it keeps the lot for local housing and homelessness work.

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