The Second-Home and Empty-Home Tax Crackdown (2026): Council-Tax Premiums, France's Majoration and Vacant-Home Levies

Published on: June 26, 2026

For most of the last decade, owning a holiday flat in Cornwall or a family pied-a-terre in Nice carried roughly the same annual tax as any other home. That era is over. Across Europe, governments facing housing shortages have decided that second homes and empty properties are a problem to be taxed, not a lifestyle to be subsidised, and the penalties they have introduced are no longer marginal. In parts of Britain a second-home owner can now pay double, triple or even more in local tax than a permanent resident next door. France keeps a tax it abolished for everyone else, specifically so it can keep charging owners of second homes.

This is a different question from the basic annual property tax. Yes, you will still pay the standard council tax, IBI, taxe fonciere or IMU on any home you own. What has changed is the extra layer aimed squarely at properties that are not someone's main residence. This guide focuses on that surcharge, where it bites hardest, and how owners can sometimes avoid it.

Before you read. This is general information, not tax advice. Premium rates, adoption dates and exemptions change frequently and are set locally, so the rate in one town can differ completely from the next. Always confirm the current position with the relevant local authority and take professional advice for your own situation.

The crucial distinction: second home versus empty home

Two different surcharges are often confused, and the difference is financial. A second-home premium applies to a property that is furnished and habitable but is nobody's main residence: a holiday home, a weekend flat, a property used periodically. An empty-home premium applies to a property that is unoccupied and substantially unfurnished, the aim being to push derelict or speculative empties back into use. The two are taxed under different rules, and a property's status can flip between them depending on whether it is furnished. Getting your property classified correctly is the single most important thing an owner can do.

United Kingdom: from "up to double" to "up to six times"

Britain has moved fastest and hardest, but because council tax is set locally, the rules differ across the three nations.

In England, the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 gave councils the power to charge a second-home premium of up to 100%, effectively doubling the bill, from 1 April 2025. Take-up has been rapid: by the 2025-26 year, well over 200 English billing authorities had switched the premium on, covering most of the country, with more joining in April 2026. There is no grace period; a furnished property with no resident can attract the premium from day one. Separately, the empty-homes premium has been tightened so that from April 2026 it can apply after just one year of vacancy rather than two, rising in steps for longer-term empties. England has also announced a new High Value Council Tax Surcharge, a "mansion tax" on homes worth more than 2 million pounds, expected from April 2028, which will stack on top for the most expensive second homes.

Wales has gone furthest. Welsh councils have been able to charge premiums of up to 300% since April 2023, and several have used much of that headroom, with authorities in the most pressured tourist areas setting premiums well into triple figures. Wales also makes it harder to escape onto business rates by running a property as a holiday let, requiring it to be available for 252 nights and actually let for 182, materially tougher than the English equivalent.

Scotland allowed councils to charge a second-home premium of up to 100% from April 2024, and nearly all of Scotland's 32 councils adopted it. From April 2026 the position changes again as the cap is lifted, allowing some councils to go well beyond doubling, with the most aggressive setting premiums several times the standard bill. As always, the rate depends entirely on the council.

A practical note for owners: the standard route out of the second-home premium is to genuinely convert the property into a commercial holiday let, which moves it onto business rates and can qualify for small business relief, but this requires meeting strict availability and letting-night thresholds and is not a paper exercise.

France: the tax that refused to die

France abolished its taxe d'habitation on main residences in 2023, a popular tax cut for tens of millions of households. But the tax survives in full for second homes, now formally called the taxe d'habitation sur les residences secondaires (THRS). If you own a furnished property in France that is not your main home, you pay it, and it is calculated on the property's notional rental value (valeur locative cadastrale) at the local rate.

On top of that sits the majoration, a surcharge of between 5% and 60% that councils in "tension zones" can vote to add. These are the same areas where the vacant-homes tax applies, typically large urban agglomerations and high-demand tourist and coastal communes. The surcharge has spread quickly: by 2025, more than 1,600 French communes had adopted it, at an average rate around 41%, with the highest concentrations in Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, Provence, Occitanie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and the Paris region. Limited exemptions exist, for example where you must keep a second home near your workplace, or where the property genuinely cannot be used as a main residence.

France runs separate vacant-property taxes too: the taxe sur les logements vacants (TLV) in tension zones for homes empty more than a year, and the taxe d'habitation sur les logements vacants (THLV) elsewhere after two years. A significant change is coming: from January 2027 these merge into a single new vacancy tax, expected to apply at 17% in the first year and 34% thereafter. France has also extended the tax authority's window to correct misclassified properties to three years, so a wrong occupancy declaration is now a more expensive mistake.

How the surcharge layer compares

What an owner should actually do

The recurring lesson across every jurisdiction is that status and evidence are everything. Whether a property counts as a main home, a furnished second home or an empty home determines which surcharge, if any, applies, and authorities increasingly cross-check declarations against real data. Owners who keep clear evidence, a genuine letting record, a marketing trail, proof of major works, a correct occupancy declaration, are the ones who successfully claim exemptions. Owners who assume the rules are uniform, or who let an old classification stand, are the ones who get the doubled or tripled bill.

If you are weighing where to buy a holiday home or investment property in Europe, the size of this surcharge layer now varies enough between countries, and even between neighbouring towns, that it deserves a place in your numbers from the start, not a surprise on the first annual bill.

Related guides: The annual property tax bill: IBI, taxe fonciere, IMU and council tax, How to legally license a holiday let, and The hidden costs of owning property abroad.

Disclaimer. Last reviewed June 2026. Local property-tax premiums, thresholds and exemptions change frequently and are set by individual councils and communes. This article is general information only and is not tax or legal advice. Verify the current rate with the relevant authority and take professional advice before relying on any figure here.

A note on the numbers: where no source is named, the market figures in this article (prices, yields, costs) are indicative estimates compiled from publicly available market data and industry reporting at the time of writing. Markets move and rules change, so treat them as a starting point and verify current figures with official sources before acting on them.