Doubling council tax on second homes documentation: FOI release

Information requested

All documentation held by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings and analysis, about doubling council tax on second homes, from the last three months.

Response

Under the terms of your request, I should clarify that the scope of this FOI relates specifically to the introduction of powers allowing councils to apply a Council Tax premium of up to 100% (i.e. double the standard charge) on second homes and long-term empty properties. These discretionary powers came into effect on 1 April 2024, alongside a grace period for empty homes undergoing renovation. The measure was introduced to discourage under-used housing and encourage properties back into residential use.

The Programme for Government 2025–26 states that, through the forthcoming Housing (Scotland) Bill, the Scottish Government will be “removing legislative constraints on Council Tax premiums for second and long-term empty homes”, so that local authorities have full flexibility to set premium levels above the current 100% cap as part of wider measures responding to the housing emergency. Under the terms of your FOI request, the delivery of this commitment does not fall within the scope of your request.

Please see the attached document which contains 17 documents in the scope of your request. Information which is not in scope has been redacted. Further, the following FOISA exemptions have been applied to some of the information in the response issued to you. These are:

• Section 30(b)(i) – free and frank provision of advice

This applies to some of the documents specifically where officials have provided advice to Ministers, particularly regarding an ongoing policy. As such, an exemption under section 30(b)(i) of FOISA (free and frank provision of advice) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies when disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for officials to have a private space within which to provide free and frank advice to Ministers before the Scottish Government reaches a settled public view.

• Section 38(1)(b) – applicant has asked for personal data of a third party

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names/contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

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The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202500479378 - Information released - Document

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