Kath Nugent, 52, was devastated when she lost both of her parents within weeks of each other in 2020. After her mother died of dementia, her father died from lung cancer on the day of the funeral two weeks later.
Nugent and her brother, Richard Ellis, knew they would inherit the two-bedroom bungalow near the seafront of Rhyl, in north Wales, where her parents had lived for 20 years. What they didn’t expect was the council tax bill of almost £5,000 a year.
In 2017 Welsh councils were given permission to put a council tax premium of 100 per cent on second-home owners. This increased to a maximum 300 per cent in 2023. Denbighshire council, which covers Rhyl, is making use of these powers…..
….“It is the same story everywhere in Wales — the market is absolutely saturated with people selling their second homes,” said Carol Peett, from the property consultancy West Wales Property Finders http://www.westwalespropertyfinders.co.uk. “They are just sitting on the market, and while this may bring the price of homes down a bit, they are always going to be out of reach of locals.”….
The Sunday Times – 13th April 2025 – I inherited my parents’ house, now I’m classed as a second-home owner
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