ONE MYSTERY LANDLORD is paying an annual bill of over €80,000 to cover the ‘second home tax’ on each of his properties, it has been revealed.

Data compiled by the Local Government Management Agency shows that a single landlord is liable for the non-principal residence charge for over 400 properties, and has paid the €200 charge for each year of the past three years.

The majority of people falling liable for the tax, of €200 each year, have only one property which is eligible for it. In 2011, of the 183,551 people who paid the charge, 135,971 – or 74 per cent of the total – only paid it for one property.

Another 45,397 – or just under a quarter of the total – paid the charge for between two and ten homes.

Aside from the top landlord with over 400 properties, a second person incurred the charges in 2010 and 2011 for between 200 and 300 properties, facing an annual bill of between €40,000 and €60,000.

The charge was introduced in 2009 and applies to people who own a private home in which they are not resident. The €200 charge, in each cases, is payable to the local authority in whose area the property is located.

The charge is payable before June 30 of each calendar year. Some 339,431 homes qualified for the charge last year, a significant increase on the figures for 2009 and 2010.