Proposed changes to the additional Council Tax charge for long-term empty properties - South Oxfordshire District Council

If this policy change is adopted, from 1 April 2026 properties which have been left empty for over one year will be subject to a 100 per cent council tax premium charge.

If this change is adopted, it will only come into effect from 1 April 2026. This long notice makes the number of properties which will be liable for the council tax premium very diffcult to predict.

If the policy change were to come into effect today, it would affect 135 properties. However, this figure could change significantly between now and its implementation.

The Local Government Finance Act 1992 defines an empty property as a “domestic dwelling that has been unoccupied and has been substantially unfurnished”. Currently, only properties left empty for at least two years or more incur an additional council tax charge. Please see below for a full list of exemptions.

Exemptions to the long-term empty property premium charge:

• Where a property is empty because the occupant has died, an exemption from the empty homes premium will be available for twelve months after the date of the grant of probate. 
• Where a property is being actively marketed for sale or let, at a reasonable price, a twelve-month exemption from the empty homes premium will be available. However, evidence will need to be provided that the property is being actively marketed by an agent, a sale or letting website. If the property has been sold subject to contract, or rented out subject to tenancy agreement, but it is still vacant because the sale/rental agreement is taking time to complete due to it being part of a chain, evidence of this will need to be provided. Once used, a property would have to be sold, or let for at least six months, before the exemption could be claimed again.
• Properties undergoing major repairs or structural alterations will be exempt from the empty homes premium for twelve months.
• Annexes that are being used as part of the main property are permanently exempt from the empty homes premium. 
• Properties that are empty because the liable person is required to live elsewhere for job-related purposes. Existing regulations state that the empty properties premium cannot apply to properties that are empty because the liable person is required to live in armed forces accommodation for job-related purposes.