Highland Council’s empty property relief data: FOI release

Information requested

Relief was devolved on 1 April 2023, the Scottish Government has transferred £105 million per year to local government to spend as they see fit including on local relief for empty properties.

Can you please answer the following points, I can sent this as a FOI request if required

1 Can you please supply the yearly amounts allocated to the Highland Council for from the 1 April 2023. to this year 2026 and for year 2026-2027.

2 Was some of this money pacifistic given for relief on empty properties as it was allocated because of the Empty Property Relief, devolved on 1 April 2023.

3 Should you disagree with the local Empty Property Relief scheme in your area; I contacted Highland Council about relief on none-domestic Empty Properties they don’t have one. So none of the money they receive is allocated to helping none-domestic Empty Properties owners.

4 Local relief for unoccupied properties in their area is now at their discretion. Since Empty Property Relief was devolved on 1 April 2023, the Scottish Government has transferred £105 million per year to local government to spend as they see fit including on local relief for empty properties.

 

Response

The answers to your questions are set out below where it has been possible to answer them.

1. The yearly amount allocated to Highland Council in respect of the devolution of Empty Property relief is available in the annually published “Scottish Local Government Finance ‘Green Book’ for Grant Aided Expenditure and other allocations” (see Table 2). These can be accessed at:

2. 2023-24: Scottish local government finance - Green Book: 2023-2024 - gov.scot

3. 2024-25: Scottish Local Government Finance - Green Book: 2024-2025 - gov.scot

4. 2025-26: Scottish Local Government Finance - Green Book: 2025-2026 - gov.scot

5. 2026-27: Scottish Local Government Finance - Green Book: 2026-2027 - gov.scot

The annual allocation in respect of Empty Property Relief Devolution has been £1,953,000 annually between 2023-24 and 2026-27. Under section 25(1) of FOISA information which the applicant can reasonably obtain other than by requesting it under section 1(1) of FOISA is exempt information and information available online is considered to fall within this category. However, if you are unable to access the data in the above weblinks you may contact me to send you the relevant data.

1. The Scottish Budget: 2023-24 stated: “From 1 April 2023, Local authorities will have full discretion over Empty Property Relief for Non‑Domestic Rates supported by £105 million added to the settlement to support local priorities including the option to develop local relief schemes.”

This funding was not ring-fenced for any specific purpose. Local authorities are democratically elected bodies accountable to their electorate and any local relief for unoccupied properties in their area is now at their discretion. You may wish to contact Highland Council directly for further information. Their contact details are available at: Business rates – Highland Council

2. Highland Council's Empty Property Relief Scheme is available at: Unoccupied relief - Discounts for Business Rates - Highland Council. For information, the Scottish Government published Nondomestic rates relief statistics 2025 - gov.scot (see in particular Table 1 in the additional tables, available at: Supporting documents - Non-domestic rates relief statistics 2025 - gov.scot) which
includes data for local relief for unoccupied properties in Highland Council as at 1 June 2025 (Table 2).

Table 2: Local relief for unoccupied properties, Highland Council, 1 June 2025

Relief	Number of relief awards	Relief value (£)
Unoccupied Properties - listed previously exempt (local)	90	113,982
Unoccupied Properties - other previously exempt (local)	480	649,788
Unoccupied Properties - relief (local)	810	539,473
Total	1,380	1,303,242

You may be interested in the announcement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work on 31 January 2019 at Stage 1 of the Budget (Scotland) (No 3) Bill to pass the measures in the Scottish Budget 2023-24 that: “The final transfer of power to local authorities will be devolution of empty-properties rates relief to local authorities, by the next revaluation.”The Cabinet Secretary further explained that “….., it will be for local authorities—having taken account of local circumstances, the views of business and the electorate—to decide whether to use the powers.”

This can be accessed at: Meeting of the Parliament: 31/01/2019 | Scottish Parliament Website.

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