THOUSANDS of Dorset second homeowners are likely to pocket the Government’s £400 cost of living grant – while picking up the same amount again on their main residence.

Latest figures show almost 11,000 second homes in the Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole areas.

Between them those owners could get over £4.3m in Government payouts on their second homes.

Dorset Council estimates there are around 5,726 second homes in the county although there may be many more, run as businesses for letting to holidaymakers.

In the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area the council says it had 5,147 properties registered as second homes for council tax purposes in autumn last year.

Just on second home figures the payouts in Dorset for second home owners will amount for £2.29 million with another £2.05m for BCP second homes.

Those which are run as a business and registered as such are likely to have already benefitted from additional Government grants during the Covid crisis and a reduction in business rates.

Under Government rules from October each of the second homes will get a £400 discount on their fuel bills without the need to apply for it.

The Dorset Council website says it offers no discount on council tax for second homes which are furnished although if a property is unfurnished and unoccupied for less than a month a 100 per cent council tax discount applies but only for one month in a two year period.

To try and encourage owners to let or sell vacant properties the council has, since April 2019, doubled the amount of council tax payable on empty homes; trebled it from April 2020 for properties vacant between 5 and 10 years and quadrupled the council tax payments from the same date for properties vacant for 10 years or more.

BCP Council leader Cllr Drew Mellor has said he would support a move to charge 200 per cent Council Tax on second homes in the area and would welcome debate and discussion among councillors before making a formal decision.

“The government is effectively saying, it is particularly relevant in areas like ours, Cornwall and other attractive destinations, locals are being priced out of the market because of an abundance of second homeowners,” Cllr Mellor told the Echo.

For someone in the most expensive category owning an ‘average’ sized long-term vacant property in Dorset, unless other exemptions apply they could find themselves paying around £8,000 or more a year in council tax.

All homes in the UK, regardless of how well off they are, are set to get the £400 for help with energy bills this autumn, along with a previously announced £150 council tax rebate which only applies to the lower council tax bands A-D.

The Government has also announced a separate £300 payment for pensioners and a £150 payment for disabled people, both of which can be paid on top of the £650 cost-of-living payment for those eligible.

The government says it means millions of vulnerable families will be getting at least £1,200 of support this year.

Three Dorset towns have made it into a recent top 20 national list for holiday home ownership; Weymouth, Lyme Regis and Bournemouth with many communities in the Purbecks and parts of West Dorset now having more than one in four of all properties owned as a second homes or as a holiday business.