Second home council tax doubling raises millions
ReutersLocal authorities in northern England have pledged to continue charging second home owners double council tax after seeing their annual income boosted, in one case by more than £11 million.
Between them, Westmorland and Furness Council, Cumberland Council and Northumberland County Council added more than £20 million to their coffers from the policy in the financial year 2025-26.
Concerns have been raised that the policy is affecting tourism and causing second home owners to sell up.
However, Cumbria MP Tim Farron claims even more could be raised if the government closed a tax loophole which allows owners to avoid the extra cost by renting their homes out for a few weeks a year.
The government allowed local authorities in England to charge up to 100% extra council tax on second homes from April 2025.
The BBC asked authorities in the region how much income the policy had added to their budgets over the financial year 2025-26.
- Westmorland and Furness Council: £11,402,440
- Cumberland Council: £4.88m as of the end of February 2026
- Northumberland County Council: more than £6m
- Newcastle City Council: £2.58m
- County Durham: £650,000
- Darlington: £242,647
- South Tyneside: £188,026
- Middlesbrough: £0 - did not apply the policy
- Gateshead: £0 - did not apply the policy
Sunderland, Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland, North Tyneside and Stockton did not provide a figure.
Conservative councillor Guy Renner-Thompson represents the Bamburgh ward in Northumberland which includes coastal villages where more than half the properties are holiday lets or second homes.
He said the policy had been "very positive" because £6m generated had reduced council services cuts and he had emails from some second home owners "happy to pay extra".
He also rejects the argument the money should be ring-fenced for those communities most affected by high numbers of second homes and holiday lets.
"We have to focus on core council services like roads, looking after elderly and the disabled, I'm afraid," he said.
The policy means people are paying almost £10,000 a year in council tax for a band H property in Northumberland, and some estate agents say it is pushing some to sell up.
Helen Parkinson of Northumberland Properties said: "We've definitely seen some second home owners starting to rethink things, and in some cases deciding to sell."
She added that demand "hasn't gone away", particularly in coastal areas but said she was seeing "fewer people actively looking for second homes".
Getty ImagesGraeme MacLeod, who owns Hunters Estate Agents which has branches in Cumbria, agreed there was a "definite notable trend" of second home owners wanting to sell.
"Often its people who've had a house for several decades and the extra council tax has made it very borderline as to whether they can afford to keep it," he said.
Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale said he was happy to see fewer second homes in his constituency, but that many owners were still avoiding paying double council tax due to a tax loophole.
If a property is rented out for 70 days a year the owner qualifies for business rates something Farron calls an "outrage".
"My constituents working two or three job are subsidising someone who can afford to have a second home - they should be paying council tax," he said.
Renner-Thompson, however said he "doesn't have much of an issue" with the practice.
"If those homes are being used as holiday lets, and it's bringing people into the area and spending money when the property would otherwise be empty, I can't see a problem," he said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it was conducting a Call for Evidence asking for "views on the tax of short-term lets in the business rates system to make sure homeowners are paying their fair share towards local services".
Feedback is being considered and a response will be published in "due course", the department added.
