WEST NORFOLK: Second homes tax break cut
West Norfolk councillors have agreed that owners of second homes and empty properties in the borough should pay higher council tax rates from next month.
At a council meeting in Lynn last Thursday, members agreed to endorse cabinet recommendations to increase the bills for people with holiday homes or empty homes in the borough.
It is hoped that the initiative will raise more than £125,000 in extra revenue for the authority and reduce the number of empty properties in the district.
The decision means that, from April, the owners of second homes in West Norfolk which have an occupancy restriction will see their council tax discount slashed from 50 per cent to just five per cent.
Meanwhile, the tax break for properties which have no occupancy restrictions on them will be halved from 10 per cent to five per cent.
The owners of empty and unfurnished properties will now get just three months free of council tax, instead of the current six month period, before they have to pay the full rate.
People with properties considered uninhabitable will be entitled to only 50 per cent discount for a year instead of 100 per cent.
And the owners of homes which have been standing empty for more than two years will face having to pay one-and-a-half times the council tax rate as an “incentive” to return them to use, unless they are considered an exceptional case.
Labour group leader Charles Joyce sought a further recommendation, calling for the council to verify the legitimacy of applications for the 25 per cent discount for single occupants of properties.
But this was rejected after council leader Nick Daubney said a certain amount of data matching was already carried out and it was illegal for people to claim discounts to which they were not entitled.
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Monday 20 May 2013
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