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Council tax reforms - your opinion

Journalist: Warren Lewis, Property Reporter

ended 23. September 2025

Council tax in the UK is undergoing significant discussion and potential change, while renters continue to navigate their responsibilities and options. Understanding both current policies and proposed reforms is essential for anyone paying council tax, so we're hoping to get your opinions on how the proposed changes to council tax are likely to impact landlords and tenants alike.

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Managing Director & IFA at Mather and Murray Financial
Labour could be really bold and progressive on this by distributing wealth. Not only could rates be significantly hiked on multi million pound pads, but this could pay for a reduction in the lowest cost housing stock, freeing up momney for the poorest in society. Of course, Reeves will see this as a revenue raiser so, although larger properties will see an increase, this won't be redistributed downwards- instead maybe a freeze at best will be announced.
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Editor
Pete Mugleston
Mortgage Advisor & Managing Director at onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk
Council tax in its current form is outdated and regressive, with bands based on property values from the early 1990s. If we want a fairer system it needs to be linked to up-to-date property prices so the burden is progressive. That would mean those in higher-value homes pay more, easing pressure on renters and households at the lower end of the market.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
This council tax "reform" is the biggest threat to property investment returns since the introduction of Section 24 mortgage interest restrictions.

Any move toward more frequent revaluations or additional bands targeting higher value properties will directly impact landlords through reduced rental yields and tenant affordability. Properties currently sitting comfortably in Band D could jump to Band F overnight, adding hundreds of pounds annually to tenant bills and making rentals unaffordable for middle income families. This will create a downward pressure on rental demand in higher banded properties and upward pressure on cheaper stock, distorting the entire market.

The irony is that council tax reform designed to extract more revenue from property wealth will likely reduce overall housing supply as marginal rental properties become economically unviable. This creates precisely the opposite outcome politicians claim to want i.e. less housing supply and higher rents for everyone.
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Omer Mehmet
Managing Director at Trinity Finance
Council tax reform risks becoming yet another stealth tax on renters. Landlords won’t swallow higher bills — they’ll simply pass them on, pushing rents even further out of reach. Politicians talk about fairness, but if reforms pile more pressure onto tenants already struggling with record rents, it’s nothing more than fiscal hypocrisy. Instead of tinkering with council tax, government should be fixing supply and affordability at source.