Nick Clegg has said owners of second homes in rural beauty spots could face paying double the rate of council tax under Liberal Democrat plans. Launching the party’s Countryside Charter, he said the plans would ensure local residents were not priced out of the property market. They would allow local authorities to charge 200% council tax in some areas.
Source: The Guardian, Evening Standard
Given that local authorities in Scotland already have this power (though not all yet exercise it) one could confidently expect that such a provision would also find favour with a Labour / SNP government. That said, it is difficult to see how adding a few hundred pounds a year to the cost of owning a second home is likely in practice to have much effect on making homes available to “local residents”.