Since April 2025 every council in England has been able to charge double council tax on a second home that is furnished but is not anyone’s main residence. For most London owners this is a footnote. For a family from the Gulf that keeps a house in Kensington or a flat in St John’s Wood for the summer and the children’s holidays, it is a new cost of several thousand pounds a year, arriving borough by borough.
Tax
Council tax on a London second home: the 100 per cent premium and what it means for a family that visits in summer
What changed for council tax on London second homes
A furnished London home that is nobody’s sole or main residence can be charged a council tax premium of up to 100 per cent, at each borough’s own decision. Camden has charged the full premium since 1 April 2025; Kensington and Chelsea charges it from 1 April 2026. On a Band H house in Kensington and Chelsea the bill rises from £3,333 to £6,666 in 2026/27; in Camden from £4,414 to £8,828. The catch is that how often the family visits is irrelevant; only a main residence takes the home out of it.
Council tax is the annual local charge on every home in England, set by the borough and based on the home’s value band, A to H, from a 1991 valuation. Until 2025 a second home paid the same as a main home.
The new council tax second home premium power for councils
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 gave councils the power, from 1 April 2025, to add a premium of up to 100 per cent to the bill on a dwelling that is substantially furnished and is nobody’s sole or main residence. A council must resolve to charge it at least twelve months before it starts, and it decides the rate itself, up to the maximum. There is no waiting period: a home that is a second home on the day the premium starts pays it from that day.
Who pays the second home premium on a London home
The test is not how often you visit; it is whether anyone lives there as their main home. A furnished house used by the family for eight weeks a year and otherwise closed is a second home. A flat kept for a child at university, where the child lives during term, is that child’s main residence and is not. A house let to a tenant on an ordinary tenancy is the tenant’s main residence and is not.
Who decides if a home is a second home, and who is liable
The council decides on the facts, and the owner must tell it the truth; declaring a London house as a main residence while living in Riyadh is a false statement to a public authority. The premium is charged to the person liable for council tax, which for an empty or family-used home is the owner.
What the second home premium adds to a 2026/27 bill
What the premium adds to a 2026/27 bill in two central boroughs:
Council tax with the second-home premium, 2026/27
| Band H house, 2026/27 | Standard bill | With 100 per cent premium |
|---|---|---|
| Kensington and Chelsea | £3,333 | £6,666 |
| Camden | £4,414 | £8,828 |
| Band D flat, Kensington and Chelsea | £1,667 | £3,333 |
| Band D flat, Camden | £2,207 | £4,414 |
Source: RBKC 2026/27 Budget and Council Tax Report; Camden empty property and second home charges; figures for 2026/27.
Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster have the lowest council tax in the country, which is why the premium there is modest against the value of the houses; Camden’s and most outer boroughs’ bills are higher, so the doubled figure is larger. On a £10,000,000 house the premium is a rounding error against the running cost; on a £900,000 flat kept for summer use it is a real line in the budget. Our guide on service charges, ground rent and building safety for London flats sets out the other fixed costs of a home that stands empty.
Which London boroughs charge the second home premium
The decision is each borough’s own, and it changes at every budget. Camden has charged the full 100 per cent premium on second homes since 1 April 2025. Kensington and Chelsea charged nothing in 2025/26, resolved in early 2025 to charge 100 per cent from 1 April 2026, and expects nearly £8,000,000 a year from its roughly 7,900 second homes. Other central boroughs have published notices keeping the option open. Before offering on any property that will not be a main residence, the solicitor should confirm the borough’s current resolution in writing; the position on the council’s website can lag the decision.
Exceptions that take a home out of the second home premium
The regulations list exceptions that take a home out of the premium, and a council cannot refuse them. The ones that matter to an overseas owner: a home being actively marketed for sale or for let, for up to twelve months from the date marketing began; a home where probate or letters of administration have recently been granted, for twelve months from the grant; an annexe that forms part of the main dwelling; a job-related dwelling; and a home with a planning condition that forbids year-round occupation.
Being abroad is not an exception, and neither is using the home yourself for part of the year. Evidence is required for every claim.
The empty homes premium for unoccupied, unfurnished London property
A separate, older premium applies to a home that is unoccupied and substantially unfurnished. Since April 2024 it starts after one year empty, not two: 100 per cent after one year, 200 per cent after five, 300 per cent after ten. A house bought as a project and left stripped while the family decides what to do with it is the classic case, and the bill quadruples by the tenth year. A furnished second home does not pay this; a bare one does. Owners who strip a flat to avoid the second-home premium move themselves into the empty-home premium after a year, which is worse.
What to do about the second home premium: four choices
There are four honest choices. Let the home on a full tenancy, so that it is a tenant’s main residence, and give up the summer use; under the Renters’ Rights Act in force since May 2026 a tenancy cannot be arranged to end each June, so this is a real choice and not a timing trick, as our guide on the Renters’ Rights Act for overseas landlords explains.
Live there, pay the premium, or sell the London home
Have a family member live there as their main home, which means a real residence, not a name on a utility bill. Accept the premium as the price of a London home kept for the family, and budget for it alongside the service charge, insurance and the empty-home clause our guide on insurance for an overseas owner describes.
Or, for a home the family rarely uses, sell it and rent for the summer, which for many families is the cheaper and simpler arrangement. What does not work is a short let through a platform: the 90-night limit in London and the lease will stop it, and it does not make the flat anyone’s main residence.
Sources: Council tax: empty and second homes premiums (GOV.UK guidance) · Camden: empty property and second home additional charges · RBKC 2026/27 Budget and Council Tax Report · Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, section 80. Checked against the Camden and Kensington and Chelsea council tax resolutions and the government’s council tax premium guidance. Premiums change at each borough’s annual budget, and the figures above are for 2026/27. General information, not tax advice; the reader’s adviser decides. Figures verified 14 October 2026.
Frequently Asked
Questions about council tax on a London second home
Yes. The premium turns on whether the home is anyone’s sole or main residence, not on how many nights the family spends there.
No. It is his main residence while he lives there, and the council will treat it as such on evidence, which usually means his name on the council tax account and a student exemption or discount in his name.
No. Council tax is charged on the dwelling, and a company-owned second home pays the premium like any other; it also pays the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings. Our guide on holding a London property in your own name or through a company sets out why the company route rarely helps a family home.
From 1 April 2026, 100 per cent of the standard bill. For 2026/27 a Band H house goes from £3,333 to £6,666 and a Band D flat from £1,667 to £3,333. The borough charged nothing in 2025/26 and expects nearly £8,000,000 a year from its roughly 7,900 second homes.
Yes, at the full 100 per cent since 1 April 2025. For 2026/27 a Band H house in Camden pays £8,828 instead of £4,414, and a Band D flat £4,414 instead of £2,207. Camden’s bills are higher than Kensington and Chelsea’s, so the doubled figure is larger.
No. A home that is a second home on the day the borough’s premium starts pays it from that day. A council must resolve to charge it at least twelve months before it starts and sets the rate itself, up to the 100 per cent maximum, under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
A home actively marketed for sale or let, for up to twelve months from the date marketing began; a home where probate or letters of administration were recently granted, for twelve months; an annexe to the main dwelling; a job-related dwelling; and a home with a planning condition forbidding year-round occupation. Being abroad is not an exception, and evidence is required for every claim.
That moves the home into the older empty-homes premium, which is worse. A home unoccupied and substantially unfurnished pays 100 per cent extra after one year empty, 200 per cent after five and 300 per cent after ten, under rules in force since April 2024. A furnished second home does not pay this; a bare one does.
It does not work. The 90-night limit in London and the lease will stop it, and a short let does not make the flat anyone’s main residence. Only a full tenancy, under which the tenant lives there as their main home, takes the property out of the premium, and under the Renters’ Rights Act a tenancy cannot be arranged to end each June.
Yes. The decision is each borough’s own and changes at every budget, and the position on the council’s website can lag the decision. Before offering on any property that will not be a main residence, the solicitor should confirm the borough’s current resolution in writing.
