Owners of empty private homes in Croydon may face paying double, triple or even quadruple council tax under new council proposals being considered next week.

Currently, local authorities can charge residents 100% of a council tax bill if their property is left unoccupied, with an additional 50% if it is empty for more than two years.

From April, councils will have stronger legal powers to charge higher rates for long-term disused properties to encourage owners to bring them back into use, increasing local housing supply.

Councillor Alison Butler, Croydon Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for homes and Gateway services, said: “There is a housing supply crisis in London, so every empty home that can be brought back into use should be.

“Croydon Council has already provided advice, grants and loans so hundreds of private homeowners could refurbish empty and disused houses – so this proposal is about doing even more to get them to turn abandoned buildings into homes for people who need one.”

Each council can decide how much to charge depending on the local housing market.

Next Monday the council's cabinet will consider; an additional 100% tax on homes empty for between two to five years, from April 2019; an additional 200% tax on homes empty between five to ten years, from April 2020; an additional 300% council tax on properties empty for more than 10 years, from April 2021.

The proposals would not apply to homeowners with legitimate reasons for having an empty property, including members of the armed forces overseas or a home genuinely on the market for sale.