Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘Leave your house empty and you’ll pay twice as much’
Council targets unoccupied properties
Fed-up housing bosses will hit idle property owners where it hurts by doubling council tax on homes left empty for more than five years.
The cash-strapped city council hopes the move will free up buildings which have long-stood unoccupied, including an overgrown house not lived in for a quarter of a century.
The new charges are being introduced by the authority on April 1 in an attempt to tackle a district-wide housing shortage. They will currently apply to 39 properties across Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable, although many others stand empty.
Council spokesman Rob Davies said: “The aim of the 200% premium is to encourage owners of properties that have been empty for five years or more to bring them back into use, and we have experienced officers here at the council who can provide advice and support on how to go about that.” The most extreme example is a detached house in Ham Shades Lane, Whitstable, which has fallen into serious disrepair after being unoccupied for 25 years longer than any other dwelling in the district.
The council says it has been in discussions with the owners about its future but no progress is currently being made. Mr Davies said: “This property is one we are keen to see brought back into use.
“We have been working with the owners to try and achieve this, but it is a complicated situation, as is the case with many long-term-empty properties. “It is, though, one we remain hopeful of being able to resolve at some point in the future.” But such is the state of the property that it may be too far gone to be viably restored. The home occupies a generous plot in one of Whitstable’s most desirable streets and would be sought-after by a developer. Empty houses which are currently in the process of being restored are exempt from council tax for the duration of that work for a year.
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‘The aim of the 200% premium is to encourage owners of properties that have been empty for five years or more to bring them back into use’