Identifying £450k+ in potential revenue for Watford and Three Rivers councils.
Our Property & Premium Review Service located over 200 unoccupied homes where a council tax premium could be applied, identifying more than £200k in potential extra revenue for each council
Long-term partnership
Our Entitlement Services team has worked with Watford Borough Council and Three Rivers District Council for many years, including completing reviews of various discounts and exemptions to maximise council tax revenue.
In April 2024, updated government guidance allowed English local authorities to add council tax premiums for unoccupied and unfurnished properties after 12 months of being empty. Then from April 2025, councils could also to charge a premium of up to 100% additional council tax on second homes in their area. Both Watford and Three Rivers councils asked us to review their council tax base to check that existing premiums were applied correctly and that accurate bills could be issued in April 2026.
Checking for unoccupied homes
Our Property & Premium Verification Service is a 12-week fully managed programme that involves all customer contact. Using an initial data extract from councils’ revenues teams, a rigorous data analysis followed, identifying data flags to pull together the canvass base.
In addition, we carried out property visits to establish whether homes that are currently listed as occupied had been listed correctly, and to identify whether they are furnished or unfurnished to establish the correct premium.
The 12-week review builds in time for appeals and includes full reporting so that updated bills can be issued with confidence.
We start by identifying ‘high risk’ properties, such as those without a credit reference, those with an occupier that is potentially linked to another address or ones with unusually low utilities links and usage. Where we can’t establish occupation, we arrange for a visiting officer from our partner, Reigate & Banstead Council, to complete a visual check.
Amy Picken Service Manager
Identifying significant additional revenue
At the end of the project, and once all appeals had been assessed, we identified a total of 220 properties as unoccupied: 121 within Watford and 99 within Three Rivers. Some had been unoccupied for some time, enabling bills to be backdated and issued immediately. If the remaining properties remain unoccupied this year, this equates to additional council tax revenue of £231k for Watford and £228k for Three Rivers.
Many of the unoccupied homes NEC identified had been paying by direct debit for many, many years. Without the depth of the analysis this review offers, for example considering utility usage, it’s easy to see how they could fly under the radar.
Lauren Bosley Revenues Team Leader
4,200
total canvass letters issued
121
homes confirmed as unoccupied for Watford
£231k
potential extra revenue identified for Watford
99
homes confirmed as unoccupied for Three Rivers
£228k
potential extra revenue identified for Three Rivers
See how our Entitlement Services team can support you