Meeting of the Parliament 26 November 2025
Thank you.
As I indicated in my earlier remarks, initial concerns were notified to ministers on 21 August. That is the first date that ministers were aware that there was a potential issue. Then, further investigation was undertaken, and, as you would expect, legal advice was sought in order to understand the situation. The outcome of that was confirmed to ministers on 19 September. Ministers then agreed that the introduction of legislation should be explored. That was the point from which we started to take the process forward.
As I indicated, a three-week period is required for the laying of legislation. The October recess also fell in that period. However, when we sat down at the end of September to consider the issue, we were absolutely focused on how quickly we could bring the legislation to the Parliament—make no mistake of that.
Primary legislation is required to correct the error and provide a clear and certain basis for local authorities to collect rates from the owners of unoccupied properties. Without it, the amounts that have been paid would need to be refunded. The bill is therefore needed to bring the statute book unequivocally into line with the Parliament’s intention—and with its position as understood by local authorities and ratepayers, as applied by local authorities, and as voted on by the Parliament in 2019—to devolve empty property relief to local authorities.
The sums that are potentially at stake would fall to the Scottish Government to pay and are estimated to amount to more than £100 million per year if local authorities have to repay the rates that have been collected since 1 April 2023.
There will be no changes to rates bills as a result of the legislation, and the bill, if passed, will not introduce any new additional costs to businesses or individuals compared with the Scottish Parliament’s original intended policy. For that reason, we have not consulted on the bill, which simply intends to rectify the position, as it had been understood by the Parliament, local authorities and ratepayers since 1 April 2023.