SECOND home owners are to be targeted by the SNP as part of a radical shake-up of Rural Housing rules.

Amid the biggest land reforms in a generation, Humza Yousaf’s government will force families with holiday homes – or those not classed as main residences – to pay up to double their council tax from April next year.

Holiday home owners could even see their boltholes acquired by councils in compulsory purchases and converted into private rentals to ease the housing crisis.

Meanwhile, a socialist-style clampdown on lairds will introduce a ‘public interest test’ applied to the ‘sale or transfer’ of estates – which could see large landholdings being taken into public or community ownership.

The proposals outlined by the Scottish Government yesterday in its Rural Housing Action Plan are designed to make it easier for young families to buy first homes in the Highlands and Islands, as well as encourage youngsters not to leave rural communities for work.

Critics fear it will punish people who have worked hard to buy a holiday home – and could even drive money abroad.

Last night SNP rebel Fergus Ewing, the MSP for Inverness and Nairn and a former Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy, slammed the proposals.

He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘These proposals will punish those who have invested hard-earned cash in homes and will lead many to invest abroad instead, driving money out of Scotland and damaging many local economies with less money going to local builders, shops and tradesmen.’

He added: ‘The damaging short-term let regulations have seen thousands of small businesses simply give up – so there’s already less money going into many rural communities. Added to this wilful destruction of small businesses, more new regulation will further damage these communities.’

Stephen Young, a director at Scottish Land & Estates which represents the country’s largest landowners, said: ‘Policy reform to increase housing supply in rural areas is badly needed but it needs a coherent approach which is all too often missing.

‘Between obstructive planning policy, restrictive grant funding and the recent war waged on landlords, the Scottish Government has done little to encourage new housing in rural areas.’

The Action Plan comes in the wake of the SNP’s Programme for Government last month which saw Mr Yousaf commit to introducing a £35 million council tax raid on second home owners.

Several local authorities later confirmed they will look to charge the 100 per cent levy, including Angus, the Western Isles, Edinburgh, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and West Lothian.

The document released yesterday shows councils will be able to impose the tax double whammy from April. The move comes despite those buying second homes in Scotland already paying a 6 per cent ‘additional homes supplement’ on top of land and buildings transaction taxes.

Meanwhile, a further clampdown on short-term lets will go ahead. This will allow councils to expand control areas, limiting the number of Airbnb-style properties in a particular location. They will also be able to force tourism lets to switch to private rentals.

The Action Plan document states: ‘The growth of online platforms has fuelled the trend for residential homes, particularly in tourist hotspots, to be changed from primary homes to short-term lets or second homes.

‘Making the best use of existing housing can make a significant contribution to increasing the supply of permanent homes.

‘This could be by limiting the number of second homes, changing the use of properties used for tourism to private rental, acquiring properties back into the affordable sector as well as bringing empty homes back into use.

‘Demand for second homes can reduce the supply of permanent homes and inflate house prices, making it more difficult for people, particularly younger people, to access the homes they need.’

Some affordable homes could have special conditions included in their title deeds to allow a ‘rural housing body’ to have first refusal when the house is sold.

The report says the so-called ‘rural housing burden’ would ‘give a housing body the right of pre-emption and control of future sales to enable the property to be retained as an affordable home’.

It continued: ‘There can be distinct advantages to using rural housing burdens, in that the property must be occupied as a primary residence, which helps to ensure properties continue to be used as homes in perpetuity.

‘In the event of a sale, the rural housing body has the first opportunity to purchase the property. If that opportunity is not utilised and the property is sold, the burden remains on the title.’

Local authorities may also be given further compulsory sale and purchase powers in order to bring derelict land and empty properties back into use.

The plan reads: ‘In 2024 we will take forward work to consider the

justification for and practical operation of compulsory sales orders, particularly in light of our commitment to reforming compulsory purchase orders.’

Additionally, a new public interest test could be introduced on the sale of big estates.

The document states: ‘It will include new measures to regulate the market in large-scale landholdings, including the introduction of a public interest test, and requirements for community bodies to receive notification of impending sales or transfers.’

Last night Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton said: ‘It is clear from these proposals the SNP are once are again being dictated to by their Green coalition partners.

‘Land managers across rural Scotland have already embraced massive change and there is scope for many ownership

models to work. Ministers must consult with them fully before imposing such reforms on them.’

SNP Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: ‘The Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan will deliver the right homes in the right places, generate sustainable local economic growth and help rural and island communities to thrive.’