The couple bought their second home in Aviemore in 2022 . (C)Lorne Gill/SNH
A retired woman has shared how the second home council tax hike has put them between a “rock and a hard place”.
68 year-old Karen Graham and her husband who is 71 live in the Scottish Borders but following the couple’s retirement a few years ago they bought a second home in Aviemore in 2022.
Despite the additional stamp duty tax that is required when someone wishes to purchase a second property they were willing to pay up as prices were relatively low compared to what they are now.
“This was our retirement dream, so we did it anyway.”
“We don’t want to holiday abroad, we want to come here” she said.
They hope to move full time to the area and sell their home in the boarders. Picture: Canva
But in this year’s budget plan, Highland Council announced a 300 per cent increase to council tax and the Scottish Government have raised second home stamp duty to eight per cent.
The couple had hoped to move to the Highlands full time and sell their current home in the borders but due to her mother’s ill-health the pair wish to remain close by to help with her care.
At the moment they manage to come up for a week each month, Mrs Graham said.
But since Highland Council announced the increase to council tax bills for second properties, Mrs Graham explained it has left them with few options.
She said: “We’re kind of stuck, we’re kind of between a rock and a hard place.
“People have said, oh, just, you know, turn it into a short-term let and an Airbnb but we don’t want to do that because we want to use it.
“We’re now retired and it’s not like we’re still working that this amount of money’s not significant.”
Mrs Graham explained selling their Highland property would not be viable either, the increase to both taxes has put people off buying, she said.
Adding: “We would be selling it a heck of a lot less than we paid for it.”
Highland Council announced the rise as part of its 2026/27 budget plan, leader of the council, Raymond Bremner and council convenor Bill Lobban Picture: Callum Mackay.
She believes the method of raising taxes used by the council to bring more properties onto the market, is too one-sided.
The approach was labelled the “carrot and stick” by Highland Council convenor, Bill Lobban.
Mrs Graham added : “They’re not selling – to come back year after year, asking the same people for more money, It does seem unfair.
“I’d like to know what the carrot is, there’s plenty stick as far as I can see.
“You feel like you’re being punished for wanting to holiday in your own country.”
Mrs Graham sympathised with those who are trying to get on the property ladder but said that the “blanket approach” by the council will have “unintended consequences”.
“When we were young, we were the same, it was awful and granted, it is worse now, if we could help in a fair way, absolutely fine, but to keep getting increases and next year it’s going to be more.
“It just feels like it’s not actually helping in any way.” She said.
Colin Taylor started a campaign group (SHOFT) in an attempt to get the council to rethink its increase to second home council tax. Picture: Submitted
Last week, we reported on Colin Taylor, a second homeowner and member of a newly formed group, Second Homeowners for Fair Treatment (SHOFT) who have called upon Highland Council for a rethink on its 300 per cent increase.
Mrs Graham felt the new group created a “point of focus” and would help the council realise the number of people the rise will affect, and gave her a sense of “relief” that somebody else felt the same way.
She said: “When things are put up locally about people that have second houses, the social media comments are quite frankly awful.
“They sort of say, they’re parasites, they’ve got two homes, how dare they own two homes when people can’t afford one and it makes you feel, it’s almost stigmatising you, a whole group of people. I mean we’re in our 70s, we’ve worked all our lives.”
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