Stricter council tax rules for empty Worthing homes

Members of Worthing Borough Council’s cabinet supported scrapping the one month council tax discount for empty homes at a meeting of the joint strategic sub-committee on Tuesday (8 November).

Cabinet member for citizen services Emma Taylor described how empty property owners have been able to claim a one month council tax discount since 2013.

She said scrapping the scheme could ‘improve housing supply by reducing periods of vacancy’.

“The discount is most commonly awarded in respect of rented properties during the period when one tenancy ends and another tenancy starts,” Ms Taylor explained.

“The landlord becomes liable for council tax during periods between tenancies so the discount typically applies to landlords’ accounts.

“The discount can also be awarded when properties are sold and the former owner vacates the property prior to the completion date or the new owner doesn’t immediately take occupation after the completion date.

“There can only ever be one single month discounted period assigned and this leads to disputes between the tenant, the landlord, and the owner over who should be getting the discount.

“Investigating how best to split this is an administrative task quite frankly we could do without.”

Neighbouring Adur District Council scrapped the discount in 2020 but WBC decided to keep it at the time.

Ms Taylor acknowledged that additional income would be ‘really modest’ (about £7,500) but said scrapping the discount would help address the housing crisis.

“Whilst he financial gain to the council is really modest, it is really important that we encourage council tax paying landlords to bring their properties back into supply as quickly as possible to improve the housing supply in our town,” she said.

The cabinet member said most local authorities nearby – with the exception of Arun District Council and Crawley Borough Council- don’t offer such a discount.

WBC already charges between two and four times the normal council tax for long-term empty properties.

A public consultation will now be carried out to see if there is support for scrapping the one month discount.