OWNERS of furnished second homes in the district who saw their council tax double this year will get a refund – but could still face similar charges in the future.
An extraordinary meeting of Warwick District Council convened last week 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 agreed 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, residents and second homeowners, before taking a decision to charge a premium.
Councillors decided at the extraordinary meeting that they still wished to charge a second homes council tax premium in the future and delegated authority to the Head of Finance to undertake the required consultation.
The original charge came into effect from April and resulted in the council tax received by WDC increasing by around £700,000 from around 400 properties.
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.
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 full time but kept furnished by their owners. They are not rented out but just used by the owners as holiday homes.
