Scotland will give councils the power to double the council tax burden on families with rural second homes from April 2024, under plans unveiled by the Scottish National Party.
Councils would be encouraged to spend the higher council tax receipts on affordable housing.
If homes aren’t utilised councils could also buy homes via compulsory purchase orders and convert them into private rental accommodation.
Meanwhile there could be a ‘public interest test’ applied to the ‘sale or transfer’ of estates.
The plans are detailed in the Rural & Islands Housing Action Plan, linked here, which are designed to help young families buy homes in the Highlands and Islands.
Paul McLennan, Scotland’s minister for housing, said: “Housing plays an important role in sustaining rural communities and supporting them to thrive.
“Housing of the right type in the right place to meet identified local needs, can have a powerful and generational impact, supporting people to access the homes they need, enabling young people to stay in the communities in which they grew up and supporting local businesses and services to retain and attract employees.”
Fergus Ewing, the MSP for Inverness and Nairn and a former Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy, hit out at the plan to The Mail on Sunday.
He said: “These proposals will punish those who have invested hard-earned cash in homes and will lead many to invest abroad instead, driving money out of Scotland and damaging many local economies with less money going to local builders, shops and tradesmen.
“The damaging short-term let regulations have seen thousands of small businesses simply give up – so there’s already less money going into many rural communities. Added to this wilful destruction of small businesses, more new regulation will further damage these communities.”
McLennan added: “The private sector also has a vital role to play as both employers and businesses with land and assets and we know that some are already engaging in providing quality homes for their employees.
“We can learn from their experiences and through this plan and our actions, work with them to support them to do more, while also ensuring we are supporting their needs as critical employers, often of high value jobs in our rural and island communities.”