Is council tax charged on an empty home in Wales after someone dies?

Not while the home is in exemption Class F. Since 1 April 2026 that runs from the date of death until twelve months after probate or letters of administration are granted, provided the home stays unoccupied. If no grant has been obtained two years after the death, the exemption ends then. Once it ends, council tax is charged. The council for the area decides whether the exemption applies.

What changed in Wales in April 2026?

The exemption for a home left empty after a death now runs until twelve months after the grant, where it used to run for six. It also now ends two years after the death if no grant has been obtained by then. For a death before 1 April 2026, the two years run from that date. The rule in England has not changed.

Which Welsh council has the most homes left empty after a death?

By number, Cardiff, with 683 in 2025. Set against the number of homes in the area, Isle of Anglesey has the highest rate at 1 in 123 homes.

How does Wales compare with England?

In autumn 2025 Wales had 5.63 such homes for every 1,000 homes and England 4.81. Set against deaths the two are close: 23.8 homes for every 100 deaths registered in 2024 in Wales, and 23.3 in England.

How often are these figures updated?

Once a year. The Welsh Government publishes the council tax dwellings figures each January. The next are due in January 2027 and will be the first counted under the rule that came in on 1 April 2026.

Instruct Us

◆RESEARCH

Homes left empty after a death: Wales, 2025

On 31 October 2025, 8,428 homes in Wales were exempt from council tax because they had been left empty by someone who had died. That is 1 in every 178 homes.

Updated 13 November 2026. Source: Welsh Government, Council tax dwellings: April 2026 to March 2027.

8,428

homes exempt from council tax as left empty by a person who has died

1 in 178

of all homes in Wales

4.9% fewer

than in 2024

32.2% more

than in 2019

The count since 1995

Every council in Wales reports the figure each autumn. In 1995 it was 4,246. It reached 9,183 in 2023, the highest in this series, and was 8,428 in 2025: 8.2% below that peak and 32.2% above the 6,377 recorded in 2019.

15 of the 22 councils recorded fewer such homes in 2025 than in 2024, 5 recorded more and 2 the same number.

The chart shows every year from 1995. The table shows the years from 2015, and the Wales series download further down has them all.

Homes exempt from council tax as left empty by a deceased person, Wales, 1995 to 2025 (thousands)

Homes exempt from council tax as left empty by a deceased person, Wales, 1995 to 2025 (thousands)
year	Homes (thousands)
1995	4.2
1996	4.6
1997	4.7
1998	4.7
1999	4.6
2000	4.6
2001	4.5
2002	4.4
2003	4.3
2004	4.6
2005	5.1
2006	4.8
2007	4.8
2008	5.1
2009	4.9
2010	5.1
2011	5.2
2012	5.4
2013	5.6
2014	5.5
2015	5.9
2016	5.9
2017	5.8
2018	6.2
2019	6.4
2020	7.1
2021	7.5
2022	8.1
2023	9.2
2024	8.9
2025	8.4

Source: Welsh Government, council tax dwellings return, on StatsWales.

Homes in council tax exemption Class F, Wales, 2015 to 2025
Year	Homes	Change on previous year
2015	5,903	+433 (+7.9%)
2016	5,855	−48 (−0.8%)
2017	5,839	−16 (−0.3%)
2018	6,238	+399 (+6.8%)
2019	6,377	+139 (+2.2%)
2020	7,141	+764 (+12.0%)
2021	7,543	+402 (+5.6%)
2022	8,127	+584 (+7.7%)
2023	9,183	+1,056 (+13.0%)
2024	8,860	−323 (−3.5%)
2025	8,428	−432 (−4.9%)

Wales and England compared

England counts the same exemption a few weeks earlier each autumn. In 2025 Wales had 5.63 such homes for every 1,000 homes, against 4.81 in England.

Wales registers more deaths for its number of homes than England does. Set against deaths the two are close: Wales had 23.8 homes in the exemption for every 100 deaths registered in 2024, and England 23.3.

Together the two nations had 132,492 such homes that autumn. Homes left empty after a death: England, 2025 has the figures for every English council.

The comparison is like for like in 2025 because both counts were taken under the same rule. That will not be true of the next Welsh count: the rule in Wales has changed.

Homes left empty after a death, Wales and England, autumn 2025
Nation	Homes in the exemption	All homes	Per 1,000 homes	Deaths 2024	Per 100 deaths
Wales	8,428	1,497,340	5.63	35,404	23.8
England	124,064	25,817,220	4.81	531,954	23.3

Every council in Wales

Set against the number of homes in each council area, Isle of Anglesey has the highest rate, at 8.10 per 1,000 homes (1 in 123), followed by Conwy and Pembrokeshire. Bridgend has the lowest (3.12), followed by Cardiff and Carmarthenshire.

By number of homes, Cardiff has the most (683), followed by Rhondda Cynon Taf (666) and Swansea (652).

Set against deaths, Isle of Anglesey has the most, with 31.6 homes in the exemption for every 100 deaths registered in 2024, and Bridgend the fewest, with 12.1.

The table ranks all 22 councils by the number of homes left empty after a death per 1,000 homes.

Homes left empty after a death by council, Wales, 31 October 2025
Rank	Council	Homes 2025	Per 1,000 homes	Per 100 deaths	Change on a year earlier
1	Isle of Anglesey	295	8.10	31.6	−15 (−4.8%)
2	Conwy	443	7.58	27.7	−70 (−13.6%)
3	Pembrokeshire	470	7.36	30.3	−1 (−0.2%)
4	Caerphilly	575	7.04	29.5	−1 (−0.2%)
5	Ceredigion	248	6.83	28.1	−52 (−17.3%)
6	Gwynedd	411	6.59	28.9	+27 (+7.0%)
7	Powys	431	6.38	26.2	−28 (−6.1%)
8	Vale of Glamorgan	390	6.21	28.3	+25 (+6.8%)
9	Denbighshire	290	6.16	22.1	−53 (−15.5%)
10	Rhondda Cynon Taf	666	5.94	23.7	−50 (−7.0%)
11	Torfaen	256	5.87	24.3	0 (0.0%)
12	Wrexham	361	5.81	24.1	+12 (+3.4%)
13	Blaenau Gwent	184	5.53	21.4	+2 (+1.1%)
14	Monmouthshire	246	5.51	22.6	−65 (−20.9%)
15	Swansea	652	5.47	24.4	−30 (−4.4%)
16	Neath Port Talbot	357	5.28	22.0	−19 (−5.1%)
17	Merthyr Tydfil	144	5.18	20.1	−19 (−11.7%)
18	Newport	359	4.96	23.9	−49 (−12.0%)
19	Flintshire	353	4.90	21.4	−40 (−10.2%)
20	Carmarthenshire	407	4.50	16.6	+14 (+3.6%)
21	Cardiff	683	4.04	22.1	0 (0.0%)
22	Bridgend	207	3.12	12.1	−20 (−8.8%)

Welsh council figures (CSV)Wales series, 1995 to 2025 (CSV)

The rule changed in April 2026

Before 1 April 2026 the exemption in Wales was the same as in England. It ran from the date of death until six months after probate or letters of administration were granted, and it had no end date while no grant had been obtained.

From 1 April 2026 it runs until twelve months after the grant. It also ends two years after the death if no grant has been obtained by then. For a death before 1 April 2026, the two years run from that date. (Council Tax (Discounts, Disregards and Exemptions) (Wales) Regulations 2026, regulation 29.)

The figures on this page were counted on 31 October 2025, before the change. The next figures, due in January 2027, will be the first counted under the new rule. A home can now stay in the exemption for longer after the grant, and some homes will leave it at the two-year limit. So the next count will not compare directly with the figures here, or with England’s.

England’s rule has not changed. The exemption there still ends six months after the grant.

What the figures count

The exemption.: Class F is one of the classes of home exempt from council tax. It covers a home that has been unoccupied since the death of its owner or tenant. At the 2025 count the rules were those of the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) Order 1992, which then applied in Wales as it does in England: the exemption ran from the date of death until six months after probate or letters of administration were granted, and ended sooner if the home was occupied, sold or transferred.
Not every empty home.: A home that was still empty more than six months after the grant had left Class F by the count, so these figures do not include every home standing empty after a death.
Rented homes.: The figures include homes the person rented, where the estate is still liable for the rent. Not every home counted is waiting to be sold.
The source.: The figures come from the council tax dwellings return that every council in Wales makes to the Welsh Government each autumn for the coming financial year, published on StatsWales. Those shown here are from the return for April 2026 to March 2027, counted from the valuation list at 31 October 2025.
The year.: The Welsh Government labels each set of figures by the financial year the return is for. We label them by the year they were counted, 2025 here, which lines them up with England’s autumn count.
The rates.: Rates are our calculation from the same return: Class F homes divided by all homes in that council area, which is its chargeable and exempt dwellings together.
Deaths.: Deaths are those registered in 2024, counted by the council area where the person usually lived, from the Office for National Statistics. We use the calendar year before the count.
Homes per 100 deaths.: Our calculation: Class F homes at the 2025 count divided by deaths registered in 2024, multiplied by 100. It sets a count taken on one day against a year of deaths, so it is a ratio and not the share of deaths that left a home empty.
Small councils.: Councils with few homes have small counts, so their percentage changes can move sharply from one year to the next.
Coverage.: Wales. England has its own study. Scotland is not covered.

◆COMMON QUESTIONS

Questions about the figures

8,428 homes were exempt from council tax on 31 October 2025 as left empty by a person who has died, according to returns from all 22 councils in Wales. That is 1 in every 178 homes. The figure includes rented homes and leaves out homes still empty more than six months after probate was granted.

Use these figures

You are welcome to quote these figures and reuse the tables. Please credit Prospect PS and link to this page.

Suggested citation

Prospect PS (2026). Homes left empty after a death: Wales, 2025. Analysis of Welsh Government council tax dwellings statistics. https://www.prospectps.co.uk/research/homes-empty-after-a-death-in-wales

Sources

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Prospect PS manages property for solicitors, deputies and charities across England and Wales, from the first inspection through to sale. How we work