Scottish Empty Homes Partnership: How Empty Homes Officers Help With Council Tax

You've got a long-term empty property in Scotland, council tax premiums are mounting, and someone at the council mentions the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership. What is it, and can it actually help you?

What the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership Does

The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP) is a programme hosted by Shelter Scotland. Its purpose is bringing empty homes back into residential use — not reducing council tax bills directly, but helping owners return properties to qualifying residential use, which can remove a long-term empty premium.

The SEHP works with Empty Homes Officers (EHOs) across Scotland's local authorities. These officers work with property owners to identify why a home is sitting empty and what it would take to get it habitable and occupied again.

How Empty Homes Officers Work

Empty Homes Officers are council employees or council-affiliated officers. They offer free, practical support including:

• Advice on renovation grants and loans — some councils offer interest-free loans or matchfunding to help owners bring empty properties up to standard
• Vendor discounts — EHOs can sometimes connect you with discounted building supplies or preferred contractors
• Matchmaker schemes — linking property owners with housing associations or social landlords who will lease the property, guarantee rent and handle tenant management
• Planning and building standards guidance — helping navigate the warrant and permissions process

What they don't do is represent you in council tax disputes or tribunal appeals. An EHO is not your advocate against the council's revenues department — they're part of the same local authority system. Their goal is getting the property occupied, not challenging your tax bill.

The Council Tax Connection

Bringing an empty home back into use is the most permanent way to eliminate the long-term empty premium. When you or a tenant makes the property your sole or main residence, it stops being classified as long-term empty; occupation as a sole or main residence for under 3 months is disregarded for this purpose. If the property instead remains a furnished second home occupied for at least 25 days in 12 months, a second-home premium may still apply.

If renovation is what's standing between you and an occupied property, the EHO route can be valuable. They know the local authority's own timelines for Class A exemptions, the grace period rules for new purchases, and whether your council offers any discretionary extensions for renovation work.

For island and rural councils (Highland, Argyll and Bute, Orkney, Shetland), EHOs are particularly active because housing supply constraints make every empty home count.

When an EHO Can't Help

If your property is empty for reasons that aren't going to change — you're holding it as a second home, it's part of a deceased estate awaiting Confirmation, or you're waiting for planning permission for a different use — an EHO's tools won't remove the premium. In those situations, you need to look at the statutory exemptions and exceptions: the marketing exception (property for sale or let), the renovation grace period, the job-related dwelling discount or the care home exemption.

Our Scotland second home and empty home council tax guide covers every exemption and exception route, with the evidence requirements and application steps for each one — whether your plan is to bring the property back into use or to claim the right relief while it stays empty.

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