Nearly 80 Pembrokeshire property owners have second homes Council Tax debts in excess of £20,000, and several hundred have debts of at least £10,000, senior Pembrokeshire councillors have heard.

At the September meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, members considered a notice of motion by Cilgerran councillor John T Davies calling for the council to apply discretionary powers not to retrospectively charge the second homes council tax premium on properties that have moved from the 182-day-rule business rates to residential council tax.

If a self-catering property is not let out for 182 days or more a year, it will attract council tax, and, if it is not the main residence will attract the second homes council tax premium.

Cllr Davies’s motion said people in his electoral ward have been facing bills of £25,000 to £36,000 with the second homes premium which have been backdated up to three years by Revenue Services.

“On all these occasions all have furnished their returns to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) within the required time frame. The VOA subsequently sit on that information up to three years and eventually inform the council’s Revenue Services to revert the status of the property to full residential council tax category.

“This leads to automatically triggering the back dating of both the council tax liability and the second homes premium, which subsequently leads to extortionate sums being demanded of no fault of the council taxpayer.”

A report presented to members by Cabinet Member for Finance Cllr Jon Harvey said the classification of a property as liable for either council tax or non-domestic rates is determined by the VOA and not by the council, the council required to amend its records and issue revised liabilities accordingly.

It added: “A severe VOA backlog has meant that that some of the initial assessments are still ongoing, with properties being assessed as not hitting the criteria for business rates being backdated to council tax from April 1, 2023.”

It said a report on the first financial quarter of the 2026-’27, heard later at the same meeting, showed 342 properties had moved from non-domestic rates to council tax from March 2025 to June 2026 where the liability has been backdated to April 2023, but, “as figures were not monitored prior to 2025-26 the total movement is likely to be higher”.

In terms of outstanding second homes premium council tax, it said there were 78 properties owing more than £20,000; 230 between £10,000 and £20,000; and 3,086 owing between £1,000 and £10,000.

The report added: “It is also not possible to establish whether the debt is attributable to the VOA backlog without reviewing each individual account.”

It also said that, as of June, £2.9m of council tax arrears is specifically linked to self-catering properties that have moved from non-domestic rates to council tax and are currently under appeal.

Members also heard a Welsh Government consultation on the 182-day-rule was currently taking place, and subject to its outcome, any legislative changes are intended to take effect from April 2027.

Speaking at the meeting, council Leader Cllr Tessa Hodgson expressed her sympathy to those that had “received massive council tax bills,” hoping the ongoing consultation on the rules could see the level of days needed reduced.

It was recommended, and unanimously supported, to defer a decision on any amendments to the council’s discretionary discount policy until after Welsh Government’s consultation closes and any changes confirmed and its impact for Pembrokeshire becomes clear.