Council Tax Second-Home and Empty-Home Premiums: Every English Council

What the premiums are

gov.uk: “You can also be charged up to 2 times your normal Council Tax. This is sometimes known as the second homes premium.” And on empty homes: “You can be charged additional Council Tax if your home has been empty for at least one year. This is also known as the empty home premium. How much you pay will depend on how long the property has been empty. You can be charged up to 4 times your normal Council Tax bill if your home has been empty for at least 10 years.”

Both are council decisions, taken year by year. The table is built from the return every billing authority files with MHCLG each October (the Council Taxbase, CTB1), which records how many dwellings were charged at each premium rate — so a council shows “Yes” only if it actually billed the premium in 2025/26, the first year the second-homes premium was available. The 2026/27 return is due around November 2026 and this page will be refreshed from it.

Why it matters to landlords

• Furnished holiday lets and second homes: a furnished property that is nobody’s main home is a “second home” for council tax; where the premium applies the bill doubles. Councils that did not apply it in 2025/26 can adopt it later.
• Voids: an empty let pays the standard bill from day one (discount “up to” the council); the empty-home premium only starts after a full year, and a property being marketed to rent can be excepted for up to 12 months.
• Exceptions on gov.uk: the second-homes premium does not apply where the second home is an annex which forms part of the same property, and is being used as part of the main residence; your main or second home is provided by your employer and you need to live there for your job; the second home has planning restrictions or other conditions about what it’s used for and who can live there, which means you cannot use it as a permanent residence. For up to 12 months you may not have to pay either premium if you recently received a grant of probate (or letters of administration) for the second home or the second home is being marketed for sale or to rent; the empty-home premium also pauses where the empty home is undergoing major repairs or structural changes.

Every council, searchable

Download the whole dataset: CSV · JSON (both include Band D and bands A–H for 2026/27). Band D bills for every council are on the council tax rates 2026/27 page. Scotland and Wales have their own premium rules and 2026/27 returns: Scotland · Wales.

Band D and bands A–H: MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (published 25 March 2026, Table 9 area council tax for two adults, including precepts); 2025/26 comparator and % change from the MHCLG live tables. Premiums: MHCLG Council Taxbase 2025 (CTB1 return, revised 21 January 2026) = policy for 2025/26; the 2026/27 return is due around November 2026. Rules quoted from gov.uk (checked 5 September 2026). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Averages and rankings are ours, computed across the 296 billing authorities.