Council Tax Second Home & Empty Home Premium Calculator (2026/27)

Two separate council tax premiums can apply to a property that is not someone’s main home: the second-homes premium, which some English councils have charged since 1 April 2025, and the empty-home premium, which scales up the longer a property stands empty. Both are set council by council — there is no national rate — and both fall away the moment the property is genuinely someone’s home again. This calculator uses each council’s actual 2025/26 return to MHCLG to work out what a specific property would owe: the annual bill, the monthly figure, the total over however many years you enter, and what letting it instead would save.

How the premium is added

Council tax starts from the property’s Band D charge for 2026/27, scaled to its actual band using the standard England ratios (Band A is six-ninths of Band D, Band H is double). Where a council applies a premium, it is a percentage on top of that standard bill — gov.uk’s own wording is “up to 2 times your normal Council Tax” for a second home, and “up to 4 times” for a home empty 10 years or more. Not every council charges the maximum, and some charge nothing: of England’s 296 billing authorities, 211 applied the second-homes premium and 85 did not, in their latest return.

The empty-home premium scales with time

A home empty and substantially unfurnished for at least a year can be charged up to a 100% premium (double); past five years the ceiling rises to 200% (triple); past ten years it is 300% (quadruple). Many councils still use the pre-2024 two-year starting point rather than the newer one-year threshold, so the 1–2 year band is often 0% even where the 2–5 year band is not — the calculator uses each council’s actual figure for the duration you select, not the legal maximum, and says so when a council’s figure for a given duration has not been published.

What can pause the premium

Two exceptions apply to both premiums for up to 12 months: a recent grant of probate or letters of administration, and the property being actively marketed for sale or to rent. The empty-home premium has a third: up to 12 months (with a further six if the work finishes early) while the property is undergoing major repairs or structural alteration. Both premiums also have permanent exceptions that are not time-limited — for second homes: an annex used as part of the main home, accommodation your employer requires you to live in, or a planning condition stopping the property being anyone’s permanent residence; for empty homes: the property is an annex, or it stands empty only because you are in the armed forces and required to live in service accommodation for your job. Tick “yes” in the calculator to see the bill without the premium while one of the 12-month exceptions applies; none of this removes the property from council tax altogether, only the premium, and a permanent exception needs applying for with your council directly rather than being reflected by this calculator’s tick-box.

Letting instead of leaving it empty or as a second home

The moment a property is a tenant’s main home, neither premium applies — council tax reverts to the standard rate for the band, and paying it is usually the tenant’s responsibility rather than yours. The calculator’s “saving if let” line is simply the premium removed; it does not include rental income, letting costs, or the tax due on that income, which the rental income tax calculator covers separately.

What this does not cover

This tool is England only. Scotland and Wales run their own premium regimes with different caps — Wales can charge up to 300% and Scotland’s premium is not capped at all — covered in our explainer on the premium and the old holiday-let loophole. The premium percentages here are each council’s 2025/26 policy, because MHCLG’s local-authority-level premium data for 2026/27 had not been published when this page was last built (due around November 2026); the Band D figures themselves are the confirmed 2026/27 rate. If the question is really about a genuine void between tenants rather than a second home or a long-term empty property, see council tax and utilities during void periods instead.

Premium rules and exceptions: gov.uk “How Council Tax works: Second homes and empty properties” (gov.uk) and MHCLG’s implementation guidance on the premiums and exceptions (gov.uk), both read 13 September 2026. Band D and premium-by-council data from MHCLG’s “Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027” (published 25 March 2026, gov.uk) and “Council Taxbase 2025” (CTB1 return, revised 21 January 2026, gov.uk), Open Government Licence v3.0. Band ratios (Local Government Finance Act 1992) corroborated against council-published tables, read 13 September 2026. General information, not advice — check the figure on your own bill with your council.