Second-home owners call for Highland Council rethink as council tax soars by 300%

A group of second home owners are pushing for a rethink from Highland Council after it increased council tax on their additional homes by 300%.

As part of the local authority’s budget set last month, council convener Bill Lobban characterised it as a “carrot and stick” approach as the council aims to bring more properties onto the market to help ease the Highland housing crisis.

But Colin Taylor, from the newly-established Second Home Owners for Fair Treatment (SHOFT), wants a six-month delay to the policy, for further consideration to be given.

This would follow a delay agreed by City of Edinburgh Council after its own decision to increase council tax on second homes was met with opposition.

SHOFT has already written to Highland Council chief executive Derek Brown as well as the First Minister and political parties.

“We’re just getting started,” Mr Taylor said as he explained the group’s plans to “connect the dots” between second home owners across Scotland.

Mr Taylor believes there is often a misconception about the levels of wealth of many people who own more than one property.

“A lot of the second homeowners, particularly in our group (SHOFT), are retirees and it’s a lifestyle choice they’ve made using their pensions to supplement,” he said.

“They’re choosing to holiday in Scotland if you like, and they’re choosing to invest in Scotland, and more importantly they’re choosing to do that in the Highlands.

“We’re just ordinary people, we’re certainly not on the wealthy scale by any stretch of the imagination.”

Mr Taylor said in the case of himself and his wife, investing in a second property in the Ross-shire area was how they had chosen to spend their retirement, as travelling abroad did not “float our boat”.

“We’d rather spend time closer to the people we’re closest to,” he said.

Despite living in Midlothian the couple, he said, both have connections to the Highlands, and made their purchase after noticing a house that had come down in price after being on the market for four years.

Mr Taylor said they are “continual tourists”, spending four to five months a year in their second home.

One of SHOFT’s main arguments against the additional tax – due to rise to 400% of the base rate in 2028/29 – is the impact it will have on local businesses, claiming as second home owners will be left unable to spend what other cash they have on local amenities and services.

“We tend to eat out, we tend to use the restaurants, and we meet up and things like that,” Mr Taylor said.

“Our choice is very stark now, and we’ve already made our choice: our choice is that we won’t do that, we can’t do that.”

SHOFT do not deny the Highlands is facing a housing crisis but believes the way Highland Council is seeking to address that is wrong, branding it simply a “revenue grabbing exercise”.

The group wants to see the council identify specific areas where social housing is most needed and engage with second homeowners in those areas to try and help bring properties back on to the market.

“Why target indiscriminately and almost call second homeowners parasites for taking away the housing from people, when the reality is that’s not really the case and it doesn’t work?” Mr Taylor asked.

“We feel very unwelcomed.”

Highland Council said it agreed to a 300% rise in council tax rates on second homes as part of its 2026/27 budget plan after conducting an integrated impact assessment, policy development and budget engagement exercise to understand “community priorities”.

It said that 80% of respondents indicated support for the rise and said it was exploring “ innovative solutions” to address the housing crisis facing the region.

It also pointed out that second home owners have the right to appeal the rise, adding: “Each case will be considered on its own merits, and a decision will be made based on the evidence provided.”