Second-home owners hit with fresh crackdown in Wales
Holiday-home owners in Wales will be forced to apply for licences to carry on letting their properties under a fresh crackdown on second homes.
Rules that will force second-home owners to register their short-term lets as well as apply to a new licensing scheme, will be introduced to the Senedd before the end of the year, the Welsh government has said.
Unlike similar schemes introduced elsewhere, all visitor accommodation will be forced to register, including hotels, bed and breakfasts, spaces rented out on online platforms such as Airbnb, and anyone letting spare rooms on short lets.
Dawn Bowden, deputy minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, said there were concerns about compliance with existing rules as a result of online sites encouraging more homeowners to let their properties.
She said: “The visitor economy is changing rapidly, and while the growth of online booking platforms has brought many benefits, there are concerns around compliance with existing requirements and the impact of short-term lets on housing stock and our communities.”
It comes after the Senedd gave councils in Wales the power to charge up to 300pc council tax on second homes, the rise of which has been blamed on driving up accommodation prices for locals and damaging communities.
In October, Conservative Member of the Senedd Mark Isherwood told the BBC, businesses were “having the hearts ripped out of them” by the tax charges.
Rules on self-catering accommodation being liable for business rates rather than council tax were also tightened, with properties now needing to be let for more than half the year to qualify.
Holiday-let owners in Scotland are already required to procure a licence, after a scheme there came into force last October.
Rules vary across local authorities, with some requiring architects’ drawings of each premise and others, such as Edinburgh, demanding full planning permission for any change of use.
The UK Government is also considering introducing a registration and licensing scheme. A bill to give local authorities the powers to require licences for the conversion of holiday-let accommodation passed the first hurdle in the House of Commons late last year.
Senior Conservatives, including Housing Secretary Michael Gove, have previously criticised online letting sites for turning seaside towns into “permanent Airbnb settings”.
Siân Gwenllian MS said the latest proposals would help the Welsh government to implement controls on short-term holiday lets.
She said: “The plans will also create a more sustainable tourism offer – delivered in line with the needs and concerns of communities, particularly around housing. This will result in strengthened controls on residential properties operating as short-term holiday lets, leading to greater fair play for all.”
Northern Ireland has had a certification scheme in place for all types of visitor accommodation since 1992.
Andy Fenner, chief executive of the Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA), said he was hopeful that Wales would avoid the problems with the scheme faced by Scottish businesses.
He said: “The Welsh have looked and learned at what has happened in Scotland. It is not something for Scotland to be proud of that they are being held up as an example of what not to do.
“One of the reasons why the Scottish scheme has failed is that it has been devolved out to each council for their own individual interpretations.”
But Mr Fenner said local authorities should not be able to blame a lack of house building on the tourism industry.
“We are a successful, growing, modern part of the UK tourism offering, and we should be supported by government. Instead, we are being used as a football for blame for their failure to build houses,” he said.
Recommended
How to get around the council tax crackdown on second homes
