A COUNCILLOR has said it’s not fair that houses can be left empty for more than a decade while people are living in HMOs and are on the street.
Properties that have been empty for more than a decade in Merthyr Tydfil will soon have to pay a 200% council tax premium.
Proposals to change the levels of council tax premiums on long term empty homes in Merthyr Tydfil were agreed by full council on Wednesday, November 6 and will come into force in April next year.
They include a 150% premium for a property that has been empty for more than five years but less than 10 years and a 100% premium for a property that has been empty for more than one year but less than five years.
On second homes, the council has previously decided from April, 2024, to charge a council tax premium of 100% and the proposal is that this continues from April, 2025.
The plans also include exemptions for new owners or composite properties (properties used for domestic and non domestic uses).
For new owners, this will only apply to long-term empty properties where the statutory exemption has already been applied to the property and a council tax premium is chargeable.
A council tax premium will not be charged for a period of up to 12 months, instead a standard charge will be applicable, but when this period ends a council tax premium charge will apply.
There will also be an exemption for up to six months for those properties under renovation.
Councillor Clive Jones, Labour, said they needed to get down to the nitty gritty on the number of properties, adding that they all knew properties that had been empty for 10, 15, 20 years or more.
He said people needed to get on with it to put these properties back into use so that families, for example, could occupy them.
He said 1,080 empty properties throughout the borough was a hell of a lot although some were empty for other reasons but he added that they still had 643 they were trying to deal with.
Cllr Jones said they wanted to find out if the council tax premiums were working and how many properties were coming back into use.
Councillor Geraint Thomas, independent, said the aim when they originally signed up for this was to bring empty properties back into use, especially properties that blight communities.
He said the problem they had was that Merthyr had the fastest increase in house prices in Wales, going up 9.5% this year.
He said with an average house price of over £100,000 the council was charging council tax of between £1,500 and £2,000 for a terraced house which was 1% or 2%, so with a 9.5% increase in the amount the property was worth year in year out, people were going to sit on it if the had that cash in the bank.
Cllr Thomas said they might need some extra legislation from Welsh Government that gave the council powers to force the arm of people to sell a dwelling.
He said: “Because I don’t think it’s fair that houses can be left empty for 10, 15, 20 years just seeing house price increase the value and there’s people then living as we know in HMOs and on the street.”
The report to full council on Wednesday, November 7, said that currently within Merthyr Tydfil, as ofAugust 31, 2024, there were 1,080 empty and unfurnished properties of which 643 of them had been empty from in excess of six months to more than 20 years.
There are 158 properties that are classed as second homes with the county borough, it added.
The report said a public consultation had recently been done focusing on whether the council tax premium should be varied based on the length of time that a property remained vacant.
Of the 334 responses received the report said there was “overwhelming support” to vary the council tax premium.
The consultation also alluded to the local authority taking direct action to intervene to enable re-use which might include charging orders and compulsory purchase orders (CPO).
Since April, 2017, the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 has provided councils in Wales with discretionary powers to charge a premium of up to 100% on top of the standard rate of council tax on long term empty homes and second homes in the area from April, 2023.
The Council Tax (Long-term Empty Dwellings and Dwellings Occupied Periodically) (Wales) Regulations 2022 will allow a council to set premium levels up to 300% for the 2023/2024 financial year and following years.
The council previously decided to charge a 100% premium for long term empty homes from April, 2023.
In 2023/2024, figures show a collection rate of £362,632 from long term empty property premiums with £40,000 going towards a revenue inspector/premium officer role leading to a total revenue of £322,632.
In 2024/2025, figures show the collection rate would be £362,632 from long term empty properties, £199,444 from second homes with £40,692 going towards the revenue inspector role meaning a total revenue of £521,384.
And in 2025/2026, figures show the collection rate would be £450,132 from long term empty properties, £199,444 from second homes and £41,354 towards the revenue inspector role meaning a total revenue of £608,222.
These figures are based on an in year collection rate of 70%.
A further report is set to come before councillors on potentially taking direct action to intervene in respect of properties where it becomes clear that there is no realistic prospect of an owner taking any action to enable reuse.
