Thousands of second home owners in Fife are about to be hit in the pocket after a decision to remove the 10% council tax discount currently afforded to them was rubber-stamped.
Councillors held a special policy and co-ordination committee meeting on Wednesday to agree that Fife Council should implement the power to remove the 10% discount from owners of second homes from April 1 this year.
The move, expected to generate more than £300,000 in additional income per year with a total of 2258 properties across the region currently classed as second homes, comes after the Scottish Government introduced new regulations in 2012 intended to encourage owners to bring empty homes back into use.
Second homes in Fife are defined for council tax purposes as a property which is not anyone’s sole or main residence, is furnished and occupied for at least 25 days per year.
Other local authorities, including Perth and Kinross and Angus Councils, took the step to withdraw the discount last year, and now Fife is following suit.
Les Robertson, head of revenue and commercial services, said that officers from Fife had consulted with local authorities which had already introduced revised charging arrangements last April and had been reassured there was “little negative” impact from customers.
“The Scottish Government introduced legislation to remove the automatic discount for second homes effective from April 1 2017,” he explained.
“This change gives councils the option of offering no discount for second homes which can be used to encourage better use of housing stock in their areas as well as generating income to invest in local services.”
Noting that not everyone will be happy with the change, Mr Robertson added that measures will be put in place to ensure the new set-up is implemented in the “most efficient manner possible to ensure fullest compliance”.
“Owners of second homes who currently receive a 10% discount may be unhappy that the discount is being removed,” he continued.
“In some circumstances noted from other local authorities, this could lead to owners advising the property is now their sole or main residence to avoid the increased charge.
“The council tax team will put in place appropriate checks to ensure that leakage such as this does not occur.”
Councillors agreed to introduce the changes in time for the 2018/19 council tax bills to be altered, although Tory Councillor Linda Holt questioned why Fife did not implement it last year.
“We’ve effectively lost £300,000 by not doing it last year,” she noted.
However, after Mr Robertson confirmed the decision was taken to wait in order to see the impact elsewhere, Kirkcaldy Labour Councillor Neil Crooks pointed out that the measure had not been included in last year’s Conservative budget proposals.
