That change matters more than any single figure. A statutory cap applied before that date, the national default is now 100%, and each council can set above or below it.

Below is the order the rules apply in: the exemption classes and their periods first, then the discount, then the premium and the two exclusions from it, then how a second home is treated.

The owner. Council tax liability runs down a hierarchy from resident owner to resident tenant, resident sub-tenant, other resident and finally non-resident owner, and an empty property drops to the bottom rung.

The hierarchy ends with the non-resident owner

While a tenant lives there the tenant sits above the owner and gets the bill. The moment the tenancy ends and the property is empty, liability moves to the owner, and what makes you liable to pay council tax in Scotland sets out each rung.

Whether a tenant or a landlord is billed while somebody is still living there is a separate question, covered in are tenants or landlords liable for council tax. Our council tax liability page covers the hierarchy in full.

Joint owners are jointly and severally liable

Adults at the same rung are jointly and severally liable, so the council can pursue any one of them for the whole bill rather than a share of it. Joint liability with a partner explains what it means in practice.

The hierarchy itself comes from the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Tell the council in writing on the day the property becomes empty, because the date the last resident left is what starts every period below.

Several, and each runs on its own conditions. Some are limited to a fixed period and others run while the circumstances continue.

The classes and their periods

They sit in Schedule 1 to the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997, and an exemption is worth checking before any discount or premium question arises.

Exemptions come first in the order of operations. Where one applies there is nothing to discount and nothing to add a premium to.

The classes are set out in the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997. Class 5 is the one that covers an owner who has moved into a care home or hospital, and the severe mental impairment exemption may be the better route while somebody is still living there.

What resets the unoccupied and unfurnished exemption

Class 4 runs for under 6 months, and it resets only after 3 months or more of continuous occupation. A short stay between lets does not hand you a fresh six months.

Whether a property is entered on the valuation list at all is a matter for the Assessor, and a dwelling wrongly on the list can be the subject of a proposal at any time. How to challenge your council tax band in Scotland covers the grounds and the windows.

The default is a 50% discount for a property that is unoccupied but not a second home and not long-term empty. Councils may vary that figure, but they have to keep it between 10% and 50%, and no increase may be applied to this category.

The 10% to 50% range

The discount sits in the Council Tax (Variation for Unoccupied Dwellings) (Scotland) Regulations 2013, as amended. A council can reduce the 50% as far as 10%, and it cannot turn this category into an increase.

So the sequence for one property can be exemption, then discount, then premium, in that order. Official Scottish guidance on council tax sits on mygov.scot, and your own council’s website carries the rates it has set.

When a property becomes a long-term empty home

A long-term empty home is one that has been continuously unoccupied for more than 12 months. That is the point at which a premium can be applied.

Occupation of under 3 months as somebody’s sole or main residence does not count as occupation for that test. Use as a second home does count.

There is no longer a statutory maximum. From 1 April 2026 the national default is 100%, and a council may set a rate above or below that, none at all, or a discount instead.

What changed on 1 April 2026

The cap was removed by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, which amended section 33 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003. The accompanying guidance is local government finance circular 6/2026.

A statutory cap applied before that date. It no longer exists, so there is no national maximum to quote and the only figure that matters is your own council’s.

What that looks like on the ground

Rates are set locally, so the spread across councils is wide. The figures below are the examples recorded for 2026.

Rates are set locally and reviewed, so check the figure published for the year you are being billed for. A neighbouring council is not a guide to your own.

Two categories are excluded by the 2013 Regulations. A property being actively marketed for sale or for let, and a recently purchased property under repair or renovation.

Actively marketed for sale or for let

The exclusion applies while the property has been unoccupied for under 2 years, and it turns on the property being marketed on appropriate terms and at an appropriate price, with evidence. That is a two-year window rather than an open-ended one.

Keep the paperwork as you go, and offer the agent instructions, the asking price and the marketing history when you write to the council.

Recently purchased and under repair

The second exclusion covers a property bought less than 6 months ago that is under repair or renovation, and councils are able to extend it. It is an exclusion from the premium rather than an exemption, so it sits alongside the Class 2 exemption above.

Put the request in writing and ask for a written decision naming the policy applied. Our council tax billing guide explains how a revised bill and its instalments are rebuilt afterwards.

No. A second home is furnished, is nobody’s sole or main residence, and has been lived in for at least 25 days in the 12-month charging period, and there is no waiting period before that status applies.

The two tests side by side

The 25-day count and the furnishing question are what separate the two. Fall below either and the property is treated as an empty home instead.

Councils have had discretion to apply a premium to second homes since April 2024. From 1 April 2026 the same national default of 100% applies to second homes as to long-term empty homes, with the same freedom to set above or below it.

If the council has classified your property wrongly

Say so early and in writing, with the dates the property was occupied and by whom. The 25-day count and the furnishing position are questions of fact.

A liability decision can be appealed to the Local Taxation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, on a four-month deadline. It replaced the Valuation Appeal Committee on 1 April 2023.

The same recovery route applies as for any other council tax. A reminder, then a final notice, then an application to the sheriff court for a summary warrant, with a 10% statutory surcharge added to the outstanding council tax when it is granted.

The recovery sequence

A reminder usually arrives around two weeks after a missed instalment, and paying within 7 days puts the account back on track. A summary warrant follows a final notice that has gone unpaid, and there is no hearing and nothing to attend.

After that the council can instruct sheriff officers. For council tax under a summary warrant, an earnings arrestment can follow without a charge for payment being served first, and what happens if you do not pay your council tax sets out the whole sequence.

Non-payment of council tax cannot lead to imprisonment in Scotland. It is a civil debt rather than a criminal offence, and council tax arrears are not reported to credit reference agencies.

Old empty property arrears do not simply lapse

Council tax is excluded from the 5-year short negative prescription and sits on the 20-year long negative prescription instead. How far back a council can chase council tax arrears covers what that means for an old balance.

Ask the council for a statement of the account by year, so you can see what is charge, what is premium and what is the 10% surcharge. Then ask for a special payment arrangement for the balance.

There is no statutory maximum period for spreading arrears, and councils commonly work to the current financial year while considering longer where affordability is evidenced. Reinstating instalments after a final notice is at the council’s discretion rather than a right.

Where an earnings arrestment has already started, an approved Debt Payment Programme under the Debt Arrangement Scheme stops it and freezes interest, fees and charges. Our council tax debt advice page covers what to put in an offer to a council.