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Watford Borough Council to crack down on empty homes

 Published on: 14th February 2019   |   By: News Bulletin   |   Category: Uncategorized

Watford Borough Council is set to double the amount of council tax charged on long-term empty homes as an incentive for owners of such properties to bring them back into use.

Since 2013, local authorities in England have had the power to charge a council tax premium of up to 50% on long-term empty dwellings – these are homes that have been unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for two years or more.

This premium is in addition to the usual council tax charge that applies to that property.

Watford Borough Council currently applies a 50% premium on long term empty homes but agreed at a meeting of their Cabinet to rapidly increase these charges. These charges will now be the following:

  • From April 2019 onwards to charge a 100% premium
  • From April 2020 onwards to increase the premium to 200% for properties that have been empty for more than 5 years.
  • From April 2021 onwards to increase the premium to 300% for properties that have been empty for more than 10 years. Long term empty properties have been highlighted by charities such as Shelter as a contributing factor to the national housing crisis.

Elected Mayor of Watford Peter Taylor said: “Watford doesn’t have as many empty homes as other areas but we are still determined to take this very issue seriously. Leaving properties empty for years is something we want to discourage. We are using the powers we have to encourage people to do the right thing and bring empty properties back into use, so that there are more homes available.”

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