Owners of second homes in Wales are having to sell up. That’s no disaster: it’s a godsend | Will Hayward
www.theguardian.com
Council tax hikes on holiday homes aren’t ‘anti-English’ or detrimental to tourism. This is about preserving embattled communities, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

geteilt von: https://sh.itjust.works/post/38301389

To try to tackle this, the Welsh Labour government, alongside Plaid Cymru, introduced measures to curb second-home ownership. This included giving councils the ability to push council tax on second homes to 300% the usual rate. They also closed a loophole whereby second-home owners could register as a business in order to pay the much lower business rates.

Gwynedd council used these powers to hike council tax to 150% in April 2023. By the end of 2024, house prices had fallen by 12.4% as second-home owners tried to sell up. In Pembrokeshire, house prices fell by 8.9% after the council increased the council tax to 200% on second homes (though this was reduced to 150% recently).

  • dumples@midwest.socialEnglish
    134·
    10 hours ago

    I agree there needs to be some kind of exponentially growing tax rate for multiple houses. It might kick in after two houses since a single shared vacation home between a family should be fairly affordable.

    That being said its basically impossible to get a vacation home now. No one should have 3+ homes without paying much much more.

    • SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      2·
      2 hours ago

      I can’t wrap my head around why anyone needs or wants more than one house or flat.

      Maybe because much of my life has been lived in areas with holiday homes, and the seasonal nature of life going from hardly anyone around to overrun with privileged assholes feels intensely unnatural and damaging to places where communities used to exist.

      • SebaDC@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        2·
        4 hours ago

        Are the 1st second residences in places where people live (have jobs, etc)?

        Because in most countries, is rather the 2nd, 3rd, etc second residences, which are a problem.

        • Lazylazycat@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 hour ago

          Yes, but people who live there have been priced out of the area as they can’t afford to rent or buy anymore. People whose families have lived there for generations. It’s actually causing a staffing crisis in some areas too, as some shops/cafes in the area I used to live couldn’t open as they couldn’t find anyone to work there. Everyone has had to move away to find a home and all the people came down to their holiday homes and complained that none of the shops were open. Serves them right.

        • raparperi11@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          2·
          2 hours ago

          I think in my country the residential houses have different legistlation than vacation homes, like little cottages by the lake. Though the vacation home is required to not be suitable for year-around living, if you have a modern house by the lake it’s treated like a residential house.

          • Oniononon@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            2·
            2 hours ago

            Same here, vacation homes are not really usable as a full timelive in places in my country. They are relatively cheap as they’re in bears ass usually and often even lack a wc.