Council Tax premiums in 2025/26: why some homes now pay double, triple or quadruple
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A second home or a long-empty property can now cost its owner two, three or even four times the standard Council Tax bill. Here is exactly how the premiums introduced in April 2025 work, who is exempt, and the new charge on £2 million homes coming behind them.
Since 1 April 2025, a furnished second home in England can be charged up to double the standard Council Tax bill, and a property left empty for over ten years can be charged up to quadruple it. Neither premium is new in principle — councils have been able to charge extra on empty homes for years — but both were expanded significantly from April 2025, giving local authorities a much sharper tool aimed specifically at second homes and long-term vacant property. Whether either premium actually lands on a given property depends on the council it sits in, and on a list of exceptions worth checking before assuming a bill is correct.
The second homes premium: up to double the bill
From 1 April 2025, billing authorities — district and unitary councils — in England can charge a premium of up to 100% on a property classed as a second home: one that is substantially furnished but is not anyone's sole or main residence, and is occupied only periodically. Where a council applies the full premium, the owner pays up to 200% of the standard Council Tax bill for that property. It is entirely a council-level decision: a council has to formally determine that it will charge the premium at least a year before the financial year it applies to, and plenty of councils have chosen not to. The rules are set out in HMRC and MHCLG's guidance on the council tax premiums on long-term empty homes and second homes.
The empty homes premium: it compounds the longer a home sits empty
A separate, tiered premium applies to homes that are both unoccupied and substantially unfurnished. Since April 2024 the qualifying period starts after just one year empty, down from two years previously, and the premium itself now rises in three steps rather than one flat rate:
| Time empty | Maximum premium | Total bill (of the standard charge) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 years | up to 100% | up to 200% |
| 5 to 10 years | up to 200% | up to 300% |
| more than 10 years | up to 300% | up to 400% |
As with second homes, each council decides whether to charge the maximum, a lower amount, or nothing at all — the table above sets the ceiling, not a guaranteed figure.
What the premiums add up to
Using the £2,280 national average Band D bill for 2025/26 as a stand-in for one council's actual charge, the premiums scale out like this:
| Situation | Illustrative annual bill |
|---|---|
| Standard occupied home | £2,280 |
| Furnished second home, full premium | £4,560 |
| Empty 1–5 years, full premium | £4,560 |
| Empty 5–10 years, full premium | £6,840 |
| Empty more than 10 years, full premium | £9,120 |
A property left empty for over a decade in a council charging the maximum premium therefore pays exactly four times the standard bill — £6,840 more a year than an identical occupied home next door, purely because of how long it has sat vacant.
Which properties are excluded
Nine classes of property are protected from one or both premiums regardless of what a council decides. Both premiums exclude annexes, armed forces accommodation, homes actively being marketed for sale or let for up to 12 months, and homes recently inherited and in probate for up to 12 months after grant. The second homes premium additionally excludes job-related dwellings, caravan pitches and boat moorings, and seasonal homes where planning conditions prevent year-round occupation. The empty homes premium additionally excludes properties undergoing major repair or structural work, for up to 12 months. Anyone who thinks a premium has been applied wrongly can query it directly with the council that issued the bill, referencing the specific exception class that applies.
Why the premium isn\'t universal
Because both premiums are discretionary, coverage across England is uneven. For 2025/26, 211 of England's 296 billing authorities chose to charge the second homes premium — a mix that leans heavily towards coastal and rural areas with a high concentration of holiday homes, alongside some inner London boroughs, while a number of Midlands and North East authorities have not adopted it. A second home in one council area can therefore face the full 200% bill while an identical property a few miles away, in a different council's area, pays only the standard rate. Checking a specific council's own published decision is the only reliable way to know which side of that line a property falls on.
The Budget's addition: a surcharge for homes worth £2 million or more
The Autumn Budget on 26 November 2025 layered a further, unrelated charge on top of the existing premium system: a High Value Council Tax Surcharge, starting April 2028, on homes worth £2,000,000 or more at 2026 valuations. It runs from £2,500 a year on properties between £2,000,000 and £2,500,000 up to £7,500 a year above £5,000,000, falls on the owner rather than the occupier, and is expected to affect fewer than 1% of homes in England. Unlike the second homes and empty homes premiums, it is not something a council chooses to switch on — it is a fixed national charge, collected through the council tax system but paid to central government. Full detail is on GOV.UK's High Value Council Tax Surcharge consultation page. A very expensive second home bought today could, from 2028, end up carrying both the local second homes premium and the new national surcharge at the same time.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Guidance on the council tax premiums on long-term empty homes and second homes
- GOV.UK: Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026
- GOV.UK: High Value Council Tax Surcharge
This is general information, not financial advice. Council Tax premiums, exceptions and rates are set locally and can change each year. For your own bill and whether an exception applies, check directly with your local council.