Double council tax proposal
Radical plan to cut empty houses
A Tory politician is calling on South Lanarkshire Council to start charging double council tax on empty properties.
Graham Simpson MSP, Scottish Conservatives housing and planning spokesman, has called on the local authority to follow the example of other councils across Scotland.
This follows research by the BBC, which revealed that more than 15,000 empty homes were charged double council tax last year in a bid to reduce the number of unoccupied properties in Scotland.
Freedom of Information requests to all 32 Scottish authorities showed that almost £36m of additional revenue has been raised in the past four years. This equates to around £12m last year.
South Lanarkshire, East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire, Orkney and Shetland do not currently charge extra council tax on long-term empty properties.
Mr Simpson said: “I am calling on South Lanarkshire Council to bring into force a levy on empty properties through the council tax system.
“Under the SNP the total number of long term empty properties and second homes has increased from 52,823 in 2006 to 62,795 in 2017.
“This highlights that bringing empty properties back into use is of upmost importance. The SNP administration in South Lanarkshire must follow the example of councils across Scotland.
“An empty homes levy could bring in revenues which would fund local services whilst enticing owners to bring properties back into use.”
A spokesman for the council’s SNP administration said: “Tackling the number of empty homes in South Lanarkshire is an SNP manifesto commitment and we are investigating a number of ways to do that, including increasing council tax on vacant properties.
“Tory housing policy has decimated the availability of social housing across the country and – with the roll-out of Universal Credit – is continuing to limit our ability to meet demand.
“Graham Simpson should ask his Westminster colleagues to stop inflicting bad decisions on Scotland’s housing sector.”