30-05-2025
Councils to lose £334m as second home tax raid backfires
Second home owners dodging the double council tax raid will cost local authorities £334m, analysis shows.
A loophole means owners can escape paying four-figure bills by flipping their properties into holiday lets and renting them out for 70 nights of the year.
The move allows the properties to qualify for business rates relief and also exempts owners from paying any council tax at all.
In the past year, the amount of lost council tax revenue has doubled from £170m, according to research by property firm Colliers.
Experts and politicians said the figures proved the tax raid was backfiring.
Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow housing minister, said: 'Labour couldn't even be bothered to carry out any impact assessment, nor have they asked councils to restrict the policy to where there are localised problems in the housing market.
'This policy has massively backfired on them and it will be local people who pay the price.'
In Cornwall, the second home capital of the country, £52m of council tax income will be lost to 10,731 holiday let properties.
