Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 Council Tax Premiums — What Changed and How to Challenge Them

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 handed English councils a new financial weapon: the power to charge a 100% council tax premium on second homes. Combined with existing empty home premium powers, some properties now attract bills of three or four times the standard rate. If you own a second property in England, the legislation changed the financial landscape significantly from April 2025 onwards.

What the Act Changed

Before the 2023 Act, councils could only levy premiums on long-term empty properties — dwellings that had been unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for at least two years. Second homes (furnished properties that aren't anyone's sole or main residence) paid the standard rate or, in some councils, received a small discount.

The Act introduced two key changes to council tax premiums:

Second home premiums (new). Section 80 of the Act inserted Section 11C into the Local Government Finance Act 1992, giving billing authorities the power to levy a premium of up to 100% on furnished second homes. Councils must give at least 12 months' notice before the premium takes effect, and many adopted it with effect from 1 April 2025 or 1 April 2026.

Empty home premium acceleration (amended). The Act also amended the existing empty home premium timescale. The 100% premium now applies after one year empty (previously two years; the new threshold took effect on 1 April 2024). The 200% and 300% rates for properties empty five and ten years respectively remain unchanged.

Together, these changes mean a furnished second home in a council that has adopted the premium faces double council tax, while a long-term empty property can reach four times the standard rate (300% premium + 100% base).

Which Councils Are Charging

Adoption is discretionary — not every council has implemented the second home premium. As of 2026, councils across a wide geographic spread have adopted it, from rural authorities with high second-home concentrations (Cornwall, the Lake District, North Norfolk) to urban boroughs (Westminster, Bath and North East Somerset). The decisions are published in council minutes, usually as part of the annual budget-setting process.

You can check whether your council has adopted the premium by:

• Reading the council's published council tax charging policy on their website
• Checking the annual council tax resolution (usually passed between January and March)
• Contacting the revenues department directly

Since 1 April 2025, statutory exceptions include properties actively marketed for sale or let (for up to 12 months), certain homes left empty because someone is in job-related armed forces accommodation, and annexes forming part of a main residence. Councils may also use discretionary local exceptions.

The Exception Categories

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 and the Council Tax (Prescribed Classes of Dwellings and Consequential Amendments) (England) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/1007) provide for certain classes of property to be excepted from the second home premium:

• Job-related dwellings — where occupation of the property is required for the duties of employment
• Annexes forming part of a main dwelling — where the annexe is treated as part of the single dwelling for council tax purposes
• Specific local exceptions — councils may use discretionary local exceptions in their determinations

For empty home premiums only, an empty dwelling that requires or is undergoing major repairs or structural alterations may be excepted for up to 12 months.

Challenging a Premium

If you believe a premium has been wrongly applied — because your property falls within an exception, or the council has the facts wrong (for example, classifying your main residence as a second home) — the dispute follows the Section 16 route to the Valuation Tribunal for England:

1. Serve a formal Section 16 written grievance on the billing authority
2. Wait two months for the council's response
3. Appeal to the VTE within two months of service of the council's written decision, or within four months of serving your grievance if the council does not respond

The VTE can review whether the premium was correctly applied to your specific property on the facts. It cannot overturn the council's policy decision to adopt the premium in the first place — that's a political decision made through the democratic process and challenged (if at all) through judicial review.

Interaction with Business Rates

Some second-home owners have tried to avoid the premium by registering the property as a self-catering holiday let, which can move it onto the business rates register (often with small business rate relief, resulting in zero business rates). For a typical single self-catering property in England, the business rates test requires at least 140 nights available for commercial letting and at least 70 nights actually let in the preceding 12 months, plus an intention to make it available for at least 140 nights in the following 12 months. The VOA actively checks compliance.

If your property has been moved back from business rates to council tax and the council has applied a premium, the dispute is twofold: the rating assessment (challenged via the VOA) and the premium application (challenged via Section 16 and the VTE).

What to Do Next

If you've been charged a second home or empty home premium and believe it's wrong, the appeal route exists — but the deadlines are tight and the grievance must be properly served.

Our Council Tax Appeals to the Valuation Tribunal guide covers the full premium appeal process alongside every other category of council tax dispute, with Section 16 templates, evidence checklists, and a deadline tracker.

See more England guides →