Council Tax fraud rises as more people falsely claim single person discount to save money
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Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Telegraph
Revealed: The areas facing £500 council tax rises
Householders face eye-watering council tax rises of more than £500 thanks to Rachel Reeves's spending review, analysis has found. Treasury documents released in June said local authorities would be able to put up their bills by the maximum 5 per cent for the next three years. Now a breakdown of council tax rates has disclosed for the first time which areas are likely to fare worst. The analysis by the TaxPayers' Alliance reveals that Gateshead faces the largest rise, with typical bills expected to be £567 higher there in 2028/29. With maximum increases imposed, the bill for a Band D home would rise from £2,578 to £3,145. Those in the most expensive Band H homes would see their bills rise £1,134 to £6,290, according to the TaxPayers' Alliance. Large increases would also affect Nottingham (up £563 for Band D and £1,126 for Band H) Rutland (£550 and £1,100) and Bristol (£549 and £1,108). Taxpayers in Dorset, Hastings, Oxford and Newark and Sherwood will also see increases of more than £500. The highest council tax bills will be in Rutland, where charges will increase from £2,671 this year to £3,221. Band H ratepayers in England's smallest county will have to pay £6,442. However, Rutland is subject to local government reorganisation and may be merged with another area by 2029. Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Council tax is the ultimate stealth tax, given the way in which successive governments have piled on responsibilities to town halls without the resources to pay for them but with the permission to hike bills for residents. 'And this Government clearly intends to continue this trend by allowing years of above-inflation council tax rises, further increasing the crippling tax burden on British families and workers. 'By the end of this Parliament, the grim milestone of the first £3,000 Band D council tax bill will have been reached. 'Labour should impose lower, inflation-linked referendum caps on councils and aim for national solutions to crises such as that around social care.' Ms Reeves announced as part of June's spending review that Home Office budgets would fall by 1.4 per cent over the next three years as she sought to balance the books. The small print of the Treasury document said some of the shortfall in police funding this implied could be made up by increasing the police precept included in council tax bills. On top of this, it said that local authorities would be able to increase their parts of council tax bills by 3 per cent, plus an extra 2 per cent if they provided adult social care. These increases would be allowed for the next three years, the Treasury said. Average Band D bill to rise £395 The imposition of maximum increases over three years implies that for Band D households, bills will go up by £395 after three years. Average council tax is currently £2,280 – so the increase would put this up to £2,675. The largest Band H households would pay £5,350 on average. But the TaxPayers' Alliance analysis shows that the situation will be even worse in areas which are already paying high council tax. However, the shape of the local government map could change radically over the next three years. Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, wants to get rid of district councils and merge their powers with that of county councils. She wants everywhere outside metropolitan areas to have a unitary authority with a population of around 500,000. It means councils such as Rutland, with a population of just 41,000, will be merged into neighbouring authorities.
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- The Herald Scotland
Updated plans submitted for shopping centre redevelopment
The plans are part of a wider masterplan to regenerate the area, which is being considered as a separate application in principle, which looks to redevelop the site and partially repurpose the existing buildings where possible. The masterplan seeks to create a new high-quality public realm which will be used for residential, retail, leisure/food and beverage purposes and provide a healthcare facility. It comes after West Dunbartonshire Council successfully applied to the UK Government's Levelling Up Fund to tackle the decline of Dumbarton Town Centre and deliver three key projects in the town, one of which is the Artizan Centre. READ MORE: Proposals for the initial stage of the masterplan were approved last November subject to conditions that meant that during the period of construction, all audible work and ancillary operations should be carried out between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday and between 8am and 1pm on Sunday unless otherwise approved. This was applied 'to ensure that the development does not adversely affect the amenity of neighbouring properties by creating excessive noise and disturbance at unsocial hours.' The developer has now requested a change in these conditions that allows the hours of working to be amended, which will be presented to members of the planning committee next Wednesday. If approved, work can be carried out between the hours submitted on the approved schedule in addition to the standard working hours previously agreed. There will be no working on Sundays or public holidays and where changes to the programme are required, an amended schedule shall be submitted to the planning authority prior to the changes being made.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
‘We knocked £100k off our second home but locals don't want to buy it'
The second home council tax premium has 'decimated' local property markets, with house prices falling and the number of homes for sale soaring. The policy was supposed to make homes more affordable for those living there by encouraging second home owners to sell up. But sellers in tourist hotspots have told Telegraph Money that this isn't working: they argue that properties being sold as a result of the changes aren't suitable for first-time buyers, and few are being bought by local residents. More than 200 local authorities across England introduced a 100pc council tax premium on second homes in April, and many in Wales had also raised it previously. The Telegraph is calling for the surcharge, which was introduced by the Tories, to be cut or abolished. Property prices in the Cotswolds have fallen 4pc this year, according to analysis by estate agency Hamptons, while in holiday home hotspot the South Hams in Devon, prices have fallen 2.6pc. Meanwhile, second homes have flooded the market. In King's Lynn and West Norfolk, which includes Burnham Market, there are 52pc more homes for sale than there were last year. In North Norfolk, there are 30pc more properties than in 2024. Jamie Jamieson, of Jamieson Property Search in Norfolk, says second homes are sitting on the market as they are 'far too expensive' for locals. 'I think the prices should come down 30pc in order to sell.' There are very few second home buyers, he adds. 'I think they're all worried about what ' Rachel from accounts ' [the Chancellor] is coming back with in October. The market has been completely decimated.' In Cornwall, the second home capital of the country, these properties have flooded the market. Jo Ashby, of John Bray Estate Agents, says that successive government policies, such as stamp duty changes and council tax premiums, meant 'there are more second homes on the market than we've seen in a long time'. Property markets across the country are being clogged up with a huge amount of unwanted second homes and not many buyers. Sellers are being forced to slash asking prices, and are frustrated that their homes will not be bought by locals, as the initial policy intended. Alan Godfrey, 79, a retired surgeon, and his wife Hilary, 75, a retired dietician, from Witney, Oxfordshire, bought their second home, Anchor Cottage in Dale, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, 23 years ago. They fell in love with 'the beautiful great big blue hydrangeas outside, looking glorious, and hearing in the background, the curlews, the oyster catchers,' Alan recalls. They are both Welsh: Alan was born in Cardiff and brought up in Penarth; Hilary grew up in Maesteg, Bridgend, in the Welsh Valleys. They feel very connected to their Welsh home, coming regularly year-round, spending every August there, sharing Anchor Cottage with their three children and five grandchildren, and are involved with the local church and community. But now, faced with an annual council tax bill of more than £8,000, they have regretfully put their four-bedroom detached cottage overlooking the Gann Estuary on the market. They initially listed it for £850,000, but have since reduced the price by £100,000 to encourage buyers. 'The justification of the council tax rises is to encourage people to sell to young folk, but they're not in the market for homes like ours,' he says. 'We understand this, we have three quarters of an acre of sloping land. We even looked into the possibility of building a pair of semi-detached properties or a little row of three houses to help provide local homes. But we're in a National Park so planning would have been an issue.' Properties popular as second homes are typically unsuitable for first-time buyers or young families, says Carol Peett, of buying agent West Wales Property Finders. 'Often they are 'chocolate box cottages' which look beautiful and are ideal for a few weeks' holiday in summer but in reality are cold, damp and dark in winter. Or they have very little storage, no family-friendly garden or no parking, or are in remote areas away from local amenities like shops, schools and workplaces.' In Salcombe, Devon, the council charges a 100pc council tax premium on second homes, with the aim of making homes easier for locals to buy. However, with property prices starting at around £750,000 and rising to as much as £1.2m or more, Nigel Bishop, of Recoco Property Search, argues anyone local 'on a reasonable salary of £40,000 to £50,000 is going to really struggle to buy one, even with a hefty deposit'. In Scarborough, North Yorkshire, second home owner Paul Harris agrees that tax rises are damaging. He's selling two apartments in The Crescent, a prestigious row of early Victorian properties in South Bay. These two-bedroom properties will likely sell to downsizers or retirees, rather than first-time buyers, he believes. Harris, 62, owns a construction company in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, and his wife, Heather, 55, a graphic designer, have been prompted to sell up after the council brought in a 100pc premium for second homes in April. 'My wife is gutted to be selling the flat because we love going there,' says Harris, who describes the policy as 'a blunt instrument'. He adds: 'Scarborough is built on second home ownership, in fact the whole of The Crescent was built all those years ago by families from Sheffield. I don't think it's going to help families moving into Scarborough.' The reasoning, that the second home tax was supposed to help young families buy homes in their local area, is totally flawed, agrees Peett. 'Most second homes are either far too expensive for young local families even if prices drop. [In our area of Wales], most second homes cost over £500,000 and therefore are never going to drop down to an affordable level. The average price for a property in Pembrokeshire is circa £245,000 which is the level locals can afford.' In Wales, councils were given the power to increase second home owners' bills by as much as 300pc in 2023. In the pretty harbour town of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, second home owners pay a council tax premium of 150pc. It was set at 200pc in April 2024, but only six months later, the council dropped it back due to 'the devastating consequences on the local economy,' Peett says. The consequences have hit hard as offloading second home owners flood the market; Tenby's current average sale price of £275,068 is 21pc down on the previous year, according to Rightmove. Harris argues that targeting second home owners has a highly detrimental knock-on effect on businesses such as restaurants, cafes and shops, which will of course employ local people, many of them younger seasonal workers. 'The fact is, people coming here to stay in their own properties spend their money locally; they go out for dinner. Also, they don't need doctors, or dentists or put any pressure on local services.' A spokesman for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said: 'There is a desperate need for more housing, and having too many second homes in an area can exacerbate this crisis by driving up housing costs for local people and damaging public services. 'That's why councils can choose to add up to 100pc extra on the council tax bills of second homes to help local leaders protect their communities. This is not a mandatory requirement, and it is for councils to decide whether to do this and take account of local circumstances.'
