Gwynedd’s Cabinet members want “to keep things as they are” when it comes to the council tax premium on second homes and long-term empty properties.

Cabinet approved its favoured option - not to change the premiums for the 2027/28 financial year - at a meeting on 10 November.

It recommended no discount should be given on Class A second homes, and no discount and a premium of 150 per cent on class B second homes should remain. They also agreed to recommend no discount on homes empty for six months or more, raising to a premium of 150 per cent on homes that have been empty for 12 months or more.

The recommendations will go to full council on 3 December for a final decision.

The council must make a decision annually if it is to levy a premium on the council tax on long-term empty dwellings and second homes or, by law, an automatic 50 per cent discount would be placed on the council tax for such properties.

Legislation allows for a premium of up to 300 per cent.

Cllr Huw Wyn Jones said the second home situation was “changing regularly”.

“The Valuation Office has moved 454 properties from council tax to non-domestic rates, so the status of these properties is still unstable,” he said.

“The rules could change again; Government has just consulted on changing the 182 days rules, so it would be premature to change the premium before knowing the outcome from Cardiff.

“Third, we would have to be able to defend any decision to increase the premium.

“We would need to show what has changed since December 2022. At the moment we don’t have sufficient justification to make any change.

“With long term empty properties, we recommend keeping the premium of 150 per cent; last year research showed 100 per cent did not reduce the numbers of properties. We decided to raise it to 150 per cent from April, 2026.

“This new level has only been in place for seven months and it is too soon to know if this has had an effect in bringing empty homes back into use.”

Since the introduction of the premium, money collected through it has been placed in a fund for projects outlined in the council’s housing action plan and to help fund homelessness.

Seconding the status quo recommendation, Cllr Paul Rowlinson said: “Taxes are never popular. Every year when we set the premium at the full council in December, some councillors in other political groups will try to reduce the premium, or even delete it entirely and give a discount.

“That is something we haven’t done since 1988 in the case of second homes since and 2009 on empty dwellings.

“The premiums fund almost half of our expenditure on homelessness and we have already seen the beneficial impacts of the Housing Action Plan.”

Since the 2023/24 financial year, £3m (increased with inflation) has been used within the revenue budget to fund the homelessness service, a report stated.