Empty Homes Premium mooted for long-term empties

At his speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference today, Andrew Stunell announced that "we will shortly be consulting on charging extra council tax on homes that have been empty for more than two years." The Empty Homes Premium will be discretionary (i.e at the discretion of the local authority). There are some early (unconfirmed) indications that the amount of the premium might be 50%. Andrew Stunell also added that this would provide "an extra revenue stream for councils" to bring empty homes back into use, implying that this money wil lbe retained by councils rather than being returned to the Treasury as happens with the additional money currently collected on long-term empties. He also announced that the governmemnt would discussing with local authorities homesteading initiatives where the lattter could be of help. We'll provide more detail as we get it.