Another Welsh council has announced it is considering a council tax premium on owners of second and empty homes. Newport City Council is considering plans to impose higher tax premiums on those who have second and empty properties in the city.

The local authority is considering a proposal this week to ask people's views on introducing the premium which it says is aimed at tackling demand for affordable housing which is currently outstripping the number of available homes in Newport. The council says more than 450 households were in temporary accommodation as of March this year and that there are more than 9,000 people registered for social housing. However it says there were just 686 new social housing lettings in 2021-22.

The council says there are more than 800 properties in the city which have been unoccupied for at least a year and 15 second homes. It says efforts to encourage the owners of empty homes to bring them back into beneficial use "has had limited success" and that the authority "has had to invest significantly in housing services over the last few years as it deals with the increased demand." In April 2019 the council removed a discretionary discount on empty homes and apart from statutory exemptions reductions are not allowed.

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A year ago the Welsh Government introduced a range of tools for local authorities to tackle the influx of second homes. These measures included permitting councils to increase council tax premiums as well as permitting changes to the criteria for self-catering accommodation being liable for business rates instead of council tax. Councils are allowed to charge a council tax premium of up to 300% and most have already introduced premiums for second and empty home owners including Cardiff, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Pembrokeshire and Swansea. You can read more about that here.

Newport City Council says a 100% premium would effectively double the amount of standard council tax for a property but has not committed to any particular increase. On Wednesday, November 15, the council's cabinet will discuss a proposal to undertake a consultation on a premium which, if approved, will see people invited to give their views at a later date.