Big tax increases will hit landlords of empty homes, as the council aims to bring them back to into use.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) will double council tax for empty properties and follow this up with trebling and quadrupling premiums in the next three years.

The proposal was approved by the council’s Policy committee on Monday.

Councillor Jason Brock said: “We have a severe housing shortage in this town and across the region.

“This provides an incentive for owners to bring empty properties back into use. The purpose of the policy is that it will become internally redundant.”

Owners of properties that are empty for more than two years are currently charged an extra 50 per cent in council tax. This will rise to 100 per cent from April 1 2019.

The council will follow this up with a 200 per cent premium for properties empty for 5-10 years, which will be introduced in 2020.

A further premium of 300 per cent for properties empty for more than 10 years will be introduced in 2021.

Councillor Stevens said: “It seems extraordinary that people have empty properties for five to ten years. It beggars belief that they can’t use it themselves or won’t sell.”

Head of finance Matt Davis reassured councillors that officers would not use the policy as a ‘stick to beat genuine cases of hardship’.

There are currently 115 properties which have been unoccupied and unfurnished for more than two years within the borough.

83 properties have been empty for two to five years, 22 for five to ten years, and ten for more than ten years.

RBC has estimated an additional £351,901 will be raised over the next three years if the number of long-term empty properties remains the same.

This would be reduced if the premiums had the desired effect of reducing the number of long-term empty properties.

Exceptions to the premium include premises owned by members of the armed forces and properties that are genuinely on the market for sale or to let.

Properties are most likely to remain empty in Reading because they are ‘undergoing renovation or conversion’ (26 per cent),