Brighton: Council tax on second or empty homes to double

Council tax will double for second and empty properties in Brighton and Hove from April 2025

Council tax is set to double for second and empty homes in Brighton and Hove next year.

The unanimous decision was made by a Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC) finance committee on Thursday.

BHCC finance boss Nigel Manvell said the measure would tackle housing supply problems in the city.

The premium council tax rate for empty and second homes will be imposed from the start of the 2025-26 financial year.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 gave councils the power to double council tax on homes that had been empty for two years.

BHCC's premium comes in at least a year before those devolved powers were due to come into force, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Labour councillor Gill Williams, who chairs the council's housing and new homes committee, told the meeting: "I'm sure I'm not alone here, as every councillor gets their mailbox full of people that are really desperate, asking you to help, begging, living in terrible conditions, asking for us to help them find a home.

"It's really heartbreaking. While we're doing all we can, this won't solve all the problems. But it will certainly go some way to entice people to bring these empty homes back to life and help thousands of people to have a decent home."

The authority's strategy, finance and city regeneration committee heard that the empty homes premium was expected to generate about £500,000 from 461 properties whilst the almost 1,400 second homes were expected to generate about £1.6m.

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