Karen Graham Says Council Tax Hike Leaves Aviemore Retirement Plan Stuck
Karen Graham says Highland Council’s 300 per cent council tax increase on second properties has left her and her husband between a rock and a hard place. The retired couple bought a second home in Aviemore in 2022 and had planned to move north full time, but the higher tax now sits alongside an eight per cent second home stamp duty charge.
“We’re kind of stuck, we’re kind of between a rock and a hard place,” Graham said. She said the couple, aged 68 and 71, spend a week each month in Aviemore and do not want to turn the property into a short-term let or an Airbnb.
Aviemore retirement plan
Graham said the house was bought after retirement as part of a long-term move to the Highlands. “This was our retirement dream, so we did it anyway,” she said. The couple live in the Scottish Borders now and had expected to sell their current home and settle in Aviemore full time.
That plan has been complicated by family health circumstances that keep them based in the Borders, leaving the Aviemore property as a second home for now. Graham said they manage to come up for a week each month, which makes the tax rise immediate rather than theoretical for them.
Highland Council budget plan
Highland Council announced the 300 per cent increase in this year’s budget plan, while the Scottish Government raised second home stamp duty to eight per cent. Graham said the combined hit has changed the resale calculation. “We’re now retired and it’s not like we’re still working that this amount of money’s not significant,” she said.
She said selling would not solve the problem because the market has already been affected. “We would be selling it a heck of a lot less than we paid for it,” she said.
Bill Lobban on the approach
Highland Council convenor Bill Lobban described the policy as a “carrot and stick” approach. Graham’s response was blunt: “I’d like to know what the carrot is, there’s plenty stick as far as I can see.”
For second-home owners in the Highlands, the immediate choice is narrower: absorb the higher charge, give up the property, or find a use that avoids the tax pressure Graham says she wants no part of. For this couple, the retirement move they had planned now depends on whether they can make the Aviemore home workable without losing more than they can afford.
