Councils to Get Full Flexibility on Council Tax Discounts

A letter written to Councils at the end of July apparently indicates the government's intention to offer councils complete flexiblity over the level of discounts for empty homes and periods of time for which they could apply.

The letter states:

    In particular authorities sought clarification on the flexibility to vary the level of discount over time (for example, allowing a discount to be applied for a period [of] a few months to benefit short-term empty homes, rather than removing it completely). Ministers have carefully considered these representations. In keeping with the spirit of the proposed reforms, the Government intends to allow councils complete discretion over the level of council tax discount and the time-period for which it may apply to an empty home.

This would seem to allow for example a one week 100% discount to avoid billing trivial amounts, It is less clear whether different levels of discount could be applied for different time-periods on a sliding scale, e.g. from 100% to 50% to 0% (the letter refers to "the time-period" in the singular).  Read more on the Empty Homes Network website.