Petition Increase Council Tax charges for owners of second and subsequent homes

Ownership of two or more homes is already a major problem in many rural and seaside areas. Whilst they clearly provide an individual/couple/family with an alternative place to stay, they equally clearly push prices up and deprive local inhabitants or prospective workers of a home. It makes no sense to force people with no home to pay exorbitant rents or move from the area when many houses in the same locality remain unoccupied for 10 or more months of the year. The local economy also suffers. Since the individuals owning two or more homes are likely to be much better off than the average, councils should be required to charge DOUBLE the Council Tax rate for the first home designated as "additional to the main home". A "third" home would be charged at TRIPLE the Council Tax rate and so on. All income raised from this change to be used by councils to buy land and build "not for sale" council homes. Any sales of such houses can not be sold to "buy to let" purchasers.