Derbyshire council is set to bring in a double tax for owners of second homes

Derbyshire Dales District Council is set to adopt the double tax at a meeting next week, having agreed “in principle” to back the move in March 2023. The move, if agreed next week, would see the 100 per cent additional council tax charge start for owners of second homes from April 1, 2025.

It could bring in an extra £2 million in extra council tax, of which £280,000 would be retained by the district council and the rest distributed to other taxing authorities – with the majority share going to Derbyshire County Council.

Council papers on the issue detail that 8.4 per cent of all residential properties in the Dales are not the primary homes of Dales residents. Out of 35,000 homes, 2,950 properties are either holiday lets, second homes or have been empty for more than two years.

These properties are largely concentrated in the spine of wards running south to north from Wirksworth to Bakewell, through to Hathersage and Eyam, the council says.

Its report details: “The key issue for the council concerns the use of the second homes premium in an effort to curb the growth in second homes and potentially reduce the total number over the longer term.

“The government’s intention behind the policy is a response to the chronic shortage of lower cost market homes in housing markets distorted by people from outside an area buying an additional property. People in housing need typically report the number of second homes in their locality as one reason why they can’t afford to buy a home of their own.”

As of January 15 this year, the council said there are exactly 1,000 second homes in the Derbyshire Dales, alongside 1,464 empty homes (577 empty for two years or more) and 1,373 holiday lets.

The council report details: “Some people feel that by reducing the number of second homes in the district through this policy, there will be less money spent in the economy. However other respondents pointed out that the local people who might otherwise live in the property would in fact spend more and over a consistent time period.

“The second homes policy is something that rural councils and pressure groups have been calling for over many years. If the council decided not to adopt the policy, then it is likely that the Dales would be an outlier amongst rural authorities.”

The report continues: “It is likely (indeed intended) that the introduction of the second homes premium will mean that not all of these properties will remain as second homes.”

It predicts the authority will bring in £200,000 a year from 2025 onwards if the second homes tax is adopted.

When the issue was first debated by the council in March last year, Cllr Neil Buttle had said: “We are going to be playing whack-a-mole with rich people who are going to be popping up all over anyway. It is a rubbish method.”