Second-home owners in parts of Wales face paying up to three times the usual rate of council tax under new laws set to be introduced in April, in a move designed to make it easier for local people to buy their own property.
The devolved government in Cardiff is poised to allow local authorities to introduce the heavier levies on second homes in an effort to deter landlords.
First minister Mark Drakeford said the policy was designed to address the “anxiety” of Welsh first-time buyers priced out of the market in the place they were born. “It’s not because of wanting to be nasty to people that have second homes,” he said.
