A second home sitting empty is no longer a neutral decision. Councils in England can now charge up to double the council tax on a furnished home with nobody living in it, and up to four times the normal bill on one that has stood empty and unfurnished for long enough.
Which of those two you land in turns on something most owners have never thought about: whether the furniture is still in the house.
The two premiums, and the line between them
There are two separate powers in the Local Government Finance Act 1992, and a property falls under one or the other depending on its state.
Section 11C covers dwellings where there is no resident and the dwelling is substantially furnished. That is the second home case. A billing authority in England may add a percentage of not more than 100, so the bill can double.
Section 11B covers long-term empty dwellings. A dwelling is long-term empty where it has been unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for a continuous period of at least one year. Here the maximum climbs with time.
Local Government Finance Act 1992
The furniture decides which premium you are in
Both powers need the same starting fact, that nobody lives there. What separates them is whether the dwelling is substantially furnished.
No resident. Is the dwelling substantially furnished?
Yes, furnished
Section 11C
Dwellings occupied periodically. The second home case. No qualifying waiting period in the section itself.
Maximum premium: 100%
No, unfurnished
Section 11B
Long-term empty dwellings, once unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for at least one continuous year.
Maximum premium: 100%, rising to 300%
Clearing the house out can move it between the two. A furnished second home sits under section 11C indefinitely at up to 100%. Strip it and leave it a year and it becomes a long-term empty dwelling, where the ceiling climbs with every further year.
The empty ladder climbs
For a long-term empty dwelling the maximum a council may add depends on how long it has stood empty. From the financial year beginning 1 April 2021 the ceilings are 100% where it has been empty for less than five years, 200% at five years and under ten, and 300% at ten years or more.
Maximum premium on a long-term empty dwelling, England
Each band shows the ceiling a council may set
The percentage is added on top of the normal council tax for the property. Blocks are drawn to scale against each other.
100%
200%
300%
A 300% premium means a bill of four times the normal charge, because the premium is added on top of the standard amount.
Two details that change the arithmetic
The clock does not reset easily. For the long-term empty test, periods of up to six weeks when the dwelling was occupied or furnished are disregarded. A fortnight’s stay to break the run will not restart the year.
The second home premium had to be announced a year ahead. A billing authority’s first determination under section 11C has to be made at least one year before the financial year it applies to, and the authority must publish notice of it in a local newspaper within 21 days. That is why these charges appeared in 2025 after being set in 2024.
Both premiums are powers that a council may choose to use. Each council decides whether to use them and at what level, so your own council’s published council tax information is the only place to find the figure that applies to your property.
The options for a second home sitting empty
Sell. The cleanest exit, and the right one where the property is a long way from you, needs work you will not do, or carries memories that make letting uncomfortable.
Let it on a tenancy. The lowest-attention route, and the tenant becomes liable for council tax. The trade is that you hand over use of the house, and getting it back takes time and process.
Let it short term or as a holiday let. This keeps your own use of the property and can move it out of council tax altogether into business rates where it meets the letting thresholds, which airbnb vs holiday let sets out with the night counts that decide it. It needs the property furnished, equipped and managed, and it is the option with real work behind it.
Let it to longer-staying guests. Contractors, relocations and people between houses book in weeks rather than nights, which mid-term lets covers, including the tenancy-status question that comes with longer stays.
Leave it empty on purpose. Sometimes the right answer, where a sale is imminent or the property is mid-renovation. The point is to choose it knowingly, with the premium priced in, instead of arriving at it by not deciding.
The comparison most owners actually need is the middle three against each other, which is what Airbnb against a long-term tenancy works through on net income rather than headline rent.
What this article does not settle
It does not tell you what your council charges. These are maximum percentages that each billing authority sets for itself, and the only reliable figure is the one your council publishes.
It does not cover Wales or Scotland, which run their own premium regimes with different ceilings and conditions.
It does not state what your property would earn. That depends on the house, the location and the season, and any number quoted without seeing the property is a guess.
If you want the specific version for your property, our free valuation sets out the assumptions it uses, so you can see what the range depends on.
Frequently asked questions
Do I pay double council tax on an empty second home?
Possibly. Section 11C of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 lets a billing authority in England add a premium of up to 100% where there is no resident and the dwelling is substantially furnished, which would double the bill. It is a power a council may choose to use, so whether it applies and at what level depends on your council’s determination.
How long can a house be empty before the council tax goes up?
Under section 11B a dwelling becomes long-term empty once it has been unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for a continuous period of at least one year. Periods of up to six weeks when it was occupied or furnished are disregarded when working out whether the run is continuous.
Does furnishing an empty house reduce the council tax premium?
It changes which premium applies. A furnished dwelling with no resident falls under the second home power at up to 100%. An unfurnished one that has stood empty a year or more falls under the long-term empty power, where the ceiling rises to 200% after five years and 300% after ten.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk: Local Government Finance Act 1992, section 11C (dwellings occupied periodically; the up to 100% premium, the no-resident and substantially-furnished conditions, the one year ahead determination and the 21 day notice; inserted by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 s.80; read 2026-10-19)
- legislation.gov.uk: Local Government Finance Act 1992, section 11B (long-term empty dwellings; the one year qualifying period substituted by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 s.79, and the 100%, 200% and 300% maxima from the financial year beginning 1 April 2021; the six week disregard; read 2026-10-19)
