Scope: Scotland. Cited to Scottish instruments throughout. Council tax is devolved, and the Scottish premium regime sits in the Council Tax (Variation for Unoccupied Dwellings) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 as amended. The English long-term empty and second home premiums are made under different provisions on a different timetable and none of them applies here.
Our compliance check now covers Scotland, and so does the fine calculator. Enter a Scottish postcode and both answer in Scots law, cited to Scottish instruments — the check with your council’s registration and HMO position where we hold it, the calculator with the Scottish maximum for each offence and, where the consequence is not a fine, what it actually is. Still England and Wales only: the tenancy agreement checker, whose findings come from England and Wales statutes.
Three categories, and only one of them is you
The regime turns on which of three things a property is, and landlords routinely reason from the wrong one:
| Category | What it means | Premium exposure |
|---|
| Let and occupied | A tenant lives there and it is their sole or main residence | None. The tenant is normally the liable person and no premium arises |
| Second home | Furnished, not anyone’s sole or main residence, kept for the owner’s own use | Council may charge a premium of up to a further 100% |
| Long-term empty | Unoccupied for 12 months or more | Council may charge a premium of up to a further 100% |
The point to hold on to: a tenanted property is not a second home. A rental you have never lived in and never intend to occupy is not in the second-home category while it is let. The exposure appears in the void — the gap between tenancies — and it appears on a clock.
The premiums
Since 1 April 2024, councils have been able to charge a premium of up to a further 100% of the full council tax charge on second homes, bringing them into line with the long-standing power over long-term empty homes. The 2013 Regulations now carry a provision headed “Premium on second homes and long-term empty homes”.
Two things follow, and both are commonly got wrong:
- It is a power, not a rate. Councils may charge it. Whether they do, at what level, and with what local exceptions is a decision each of the 32 authorities takes and reviews. There is no national figure, and any article quoting one for the whole of Scotland is wrong somewhere.
- “Double” is the ceiling, not the definition. A premium of up to a further 100% means up to twice the full charge in total.
The twelve-month clock on empties
A property becomes a long-term empty home once it has been unoccupied for 12 months or more. Before that point a council may instead apply a discount for unoccupied dwellings, and the 2013 Regulations set out classes attracting a 50% discount and classes where the authority’s power to vary is restricted.
For a landlord, this is the number that matters. A void of two months between tenancies is an ordinary cost. A property left empty through a long refurbishment, a difficult succession, or a stalled sale can cross twelve months without anyone noticing, and the charge can then double.
The purchase grace period
From 1 April 2024, a council can no longer apply the long-term empty premium to a property bought by a new owner within the previous six months, where repairs or renovations are being carried out to bring it back into use.
This is the provision that protects the common landlord case: buying a property that is already long-term empty, precisely in order to refurbish and let it. Without it, a new owner inherited the previous owner’s clock. With it, there is a six-month window — and it is six months, not a year, so a slow refurbishment can still land in premium territory.
Who is liable, and when it switches
While a property is let and occupied as a tenant’s sole or main residence, the tenant is normally the liable person. Liability returns to the owner when the tenancy ends and the property is unoccupied — which is the same moment the void clock starts.
So the practical exposure is a single sequence: tenancy ends, liability reverts to you, and twelve months later the charge can double. Nothing announces it.
What to do about it
- Know your council’s policy, not Scotland’s. Each authority publishes its second home and long-term empty policy, including the premium level and any local exceptions.
- Date the void. Record the day the last tenancy ended. That is the day the clock starts, and it is the fact you will need if you have to argue about the twelve months.
- Tell the council what the property is. A property under active refurbishment for re-letting is in a different position from one simply left empty, and the exception classes and the purchase grace both depend on the council knowing.
- If you are buying an empty property, start the six months from settlement and plan the works inside it.
What this is not
It is not a tax on letting, and it is not connected to landlord registration or to short-term let licensing. A short-term let that is someone’s business rather than a home may fall into non-domestic rating instead of council tax entirely, which is a separate question decided on the property’s use.
Nor is it income tax or LBTT. The Additional Dwelling Supplement is charged once, on purchase; the council tax premium is charged annually, on status.
Information tool, not legal advice. Scottish law only.