Current status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to the Convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee on 27 January 2025, by what date the Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform will advise on further changes to council tax premiums on second and empty homes.
The Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform continues to consider the analysis pertaining to all aspects of the Consultation on the Council Tax Treatment of Second and long-term Empty Homes, and whether there could be further increases to the Council Tax premium, which would require primary legislation. I will keep Parliament updated on those considerations.
The Group also intends to review the data collected on second and & long term empty homes. The Council Tax premium on second homes was introduced on 1 April 2024, and therefore has only been in effect for 10 months. Information on second homes and empty properties (as at September 2025) will be collected and published later in the year.