OWNERS of furnished second homes in the district who saw their council tax double this year could get a refund.
An extraordinary meeting of Warwick District Council was set to convene as the Observer went to press last night (Wednesday) after it emerged that, in the view of the monitoring officer, the council had acted outside the law in respect to applying a second homes council tax premium of 100 per cent.
It was decided that immediate action needed to be taken by WDC to remedy this situation. Councillors are advised to delegate authority to the head of finance to withdraw the second homes council tax premium charge from properties and refund the overpayments taken from individuals since April 1 2025.
The issue was identified following a question from a member of the public about the second homes council tax premium charge, and as a result the monitoring officer sought legal advice.
WDC is considered to have acted outside the law on this matter by not consulting with key stakeholders, the local electorate and second homeowners, before taking a decision to charge a premium.
Councillors will also have to decide at the extraordinary meeting whether to charge a second homes council tax premium in the future or abandon the idea.
The charge came into effect from April 1 and resulted in the council tax received by WDC increasing by around £700,000.
As part of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, local authorities were told they could amend how they charged empty property premium charges and introduce a premium for furnished second homes from April 2025.
The introduction of this new premium was agreed by WDC in February last year.
The policy set out that WDC would charge an additional 100 per cent premium on the council tax of applicable furnished second homes in the district. These are essentially homes not occupied but kept furnished as ‘second homes’ by their owners. They are not rented out but just used by the owners as holiday homes etc.
It was anticipated that the introduction of this premium charge would impact approximately 400 properties and increase the council tax received by WDC by approximately £700,000, which would be distributed among the preceptors in the normal way but provide WDC with a forecasted £57,000 per annum.
