Sir Sadiq Khan has said second home owners in London should be forced to pay more than double normal council tax rates.
Labour’s Mayor of London told LBC current measures, which allow councils to charge double council tax on empty and second homes, were “not enough”.
Councils across the capital introduced a 100% premium on second home owners last month after new powers were given to town halls in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act from the last Conservative government.
But now the mayor is asking central government to empower councils to charge homeowners “much more” if their properties are left vacant.
Sir Sadiq said: “I want councils to have the power to charge much more for leaving your property vacant. I think boroughs should be allowed to charge much, much more. We’re lobbying the Government to give councils more power to disincentivise leaving a property empty.”
According to figures from Hamptons, the City of London has the largest proportion of second homes of any local authority, with 22.4% of properties not their owners’ only holdings.
Four of the ten areas with the highest shares of second homes are in London, all of which have implemented the council tax premium.
Behind the City, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden and Tower Hamlets have all seen 5-9% of their properties snapped up by existing homeowners.
Of the top 10 areas with the highest second home proportions, only the Isles of Scilly has yet to impose the premium, which has seen some owners hit with four-figure bills in some parts of the country.
London is struggling with a housing crisis, worsened by poor housebuilding numbers which saw construction begin on fewer than 4,000 properties last year, the second lowest number on record.
According to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the average council tax bill is set to nearly from £1,883 in 2023/24 to £3,672 in 2025/26.
Sir Sadiq claimed flats in Nine Elms, in southwest London, were properties “built like gold bricks investment”, but were being left empty because owners knew the “equity will go up”.
The Mayor of London continued: “Wandsworth, great council, the max they can charge is double council tax. I am not being funny, if you can afford a flat and leave it empty, you can pay double council tax.”
But lliot Keck, of the Taxpayers Alliance, said: “Londoners have had to endure a miserable nine years under Sadiq Khan, with services crumbling and crime soaring.
“Now to add insult to injury, the mayor is advocating further punishing those households with second homes in the capital, despite rent already being extortionately high due to his failed housing policies.”
