Second home owners in Wales face soaring council tax bills after Labour-Plaid deal.

Similar action should be taken all over UK including the dreaded AirBnB that have sprung up all over disrupting resident's lives.

Callistemon;
“Not over and above normal Council tax rates”
You don’t know the half of it. Some councils, ours in Pembrokeshire for example, are targeting people with only 1 home for this second home tax premium, currently 50% on top of normal Council Tax rates but going up to 100% next year.
We have a garage a path width from the main building, with 2 rooms and a loo above it, up some steps. We use it for hobbies, sewing and playing music, and have a single bed and a sofa bed in it for house guests, but don’t let it out. We recently spent quite a lot to do it up.
Because it has a loo and a separate entrance, the Valuation Office (a branch of HMRC) class it as a separate residence, and the Council take carte blanche to levy the second home premium on it, though we already pay council tax on the garage. Next year the Council tax on those 2rooms will be almost as much as the main building. It has no separate grounds or access of its own and shares services with the house.
We don’t object to paying the standard council tax as a separate building, but think the premium is really unfair.
We have tried the Valuation Office Appeal procedure, appealed to Council and Senedd members, Ministers and committees, and the local council Ombudsman, who just send us round in circles.
People we know converted their attached garage as a granny annexe. The notice that the council tax premium would be charged arrived the same day as her funeral, it was exempt while she lived there.

Good. That's the way to go.

Young people can’t get on the housing ladder throughout the country, village town or city, house prices are crazy.
The destruction of villages and small towns has come about for many reasons, the use of out of town shopping, online shopping, the reluctance of a new generation to take up local labour intensive jobs on farms and the like along with the disappearance of those jobs due to sophisticated machinery and automation. Then the NIMBY brigade who don’t want change to their surroundings when small factories are proposed.
A return to cottage industry and a spreading of the work from home ethic, requiring investment in good internet connection, would go a long way to keeping young people in their home towns and villages.
There is much more to the destruction of small communities than second homes.
Let’s be honest, do the younger generation actually want to stay in small villages these days when the world is getting so much smaller and opportunities elsewhere so much greater.

Shinamae

It’s the same here in the Southwest. Locals absolutely priced out of buying a property… my son being one of them

It's a bit of an old canard, that thing about people not being able to afford to buy in their own communities. Here in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, it costs about 3 times as much to buy a tiny cottage as it does in most of Cornwall or Devon. Is this perceived entitlement to stay in the local community something that only applies to rural areas? No way could my daughters afford to move back up here from where they live in Cornwall.

Excellent idea. Wish they would do it in N Yorkshire. They could also look at holiday let owners paying business rates, rather than council tax.

All the above stories pale into insignificance when compared with the royals and all their homes. Never are any of them spoken of as second homes but residences, is there a difference ?

As I said earlier we two spend less all year than holiday makers spend in a few months.

My 5 bed house for two is another’s family home. It would be no worse if I had a two bed flat in the city and a three bed holiday home. Taking up the same amount of property.

We use local shops, market, cafés and restaurants - and they do very well 'out of us', and visitors stay at local Hôtels.

Josianne

The trouble with renting out, even on short term let is that you have to clear all personal stuff out, and you can't use it in an emergency if you need to.

thank you- this exactly Josianne. Our lease and owners' association also forbids all short-term lets. There are also big differences in local taxes if you rent out, and also affects re-sale. We have regular letters from the Council asking ask to confirm it is not rented out, and we have had 2 complaints from other owners when a young friend stayed there for a couple of months- despite being very discreet and polite. One couple went crazy at him because he was using 'their' parking place- which they have got used to take when we are not there! (which is why they complained to the OA I suppose).

Also very difficult to insure if rented out, and need for Agency for inspections. Several friends have done this, and have had to replace EVERYTHING, floors, carpets, beds, washing machine and more. So we let trusted family and friends use it, one DD lived there for a while, and a young friend has stayed there several times due to difficult circumstances.

But the whole point is, is that it is available in an emergency, so renting does not work.

Investing in a little bolt hole” hmm one man’s “bolt hole” is another family’s home..

? this 100%

Paying for hotels, flights, etc., is dead money whereas investing in a little bolt hole would make good sense for future security for those who are not rich enough to write off the loss

But isn’t that what is supporting the hospitality and travel sectors?
“Investing in a little bolt hole” one man’s “bolt hole” is another family’s home..

Agreed, which is why I mentioned Air B&Bs, which remove housing from the local market in all sorts of areas.

The housing shortage is bad across the country, but it’s not helped when some people have more than one house and others have nowhere to live. It would be simplistic to blame second homes for the housing crisis, but when they also destroy village life as described upthread, it seems high time that checks and balances are put in place.

I’m puzzled as to why people seem to think it’s only young people in rural areas who can’t buy their own homes because of high prices.
Unless you live somewhere really dire (I shan’t give an example for fear of offending anyone but one or two spring to mind) it’s very difficult for young people everywhere.

Even with a short term let, the landlord is required by law to serve a section 21 giving the tenant eviction notice. Getting a tenant to leave who wants to stay is a very difficult and expensive procedure.

The section 21 gives a 4 month notice period so 6 months can easily become 10.

It depends, I suppose, if you're paying full Council tax or not.

Our relatives do the same, Kali2 but let out their French home when they're here for a while.
Presumably they pay full Council tax here in the UK as they spend quite a bit of time here and taxes in France too.

greater powers for local authorities to charge council tax premiums and increasing taxes on second homes.
As long as it is not over and above normal Council tax rates which would be unfair imo.

The trouble with renting out, even on short term let is that you have to clear all personal stuff out, and you can't use it in an emergency if you need to.

But you could rent it out to a family when you're not there couldn't you kali2? Even if it was only on a short term let, it would be better than them being in a hostel or a B&B.

We have kept a small apartment in the UK when we moved to go and look after my parents when we retired. For us, we felt it was essential so we could come back at any time in an emergency with the family, or whatever, and not be dependent on our ACs or the 'State'. Before Covid, we came very regularly, but once since Covid- and will soon be there to be with family and UK friends over Christmas, and hopefully more often from 2022 again. It is not a 'holiday' home- but we both truly feel that our life is 50% shared with England, for all sorts of good reasons.

We have never rented it, but we have lent it to family and friends, for short and long stays, when times were hard for them, so not totally 'selfish'.

Yes holiday homes bring in income but that's often sporadic, whereas if it's someone's actual home it would bring in more income to the area.

We have 2 homes Coastalpath but Because a second home is a luxury/vanity/entitlement thing isn’t so in our case.

We had a semidetached family home for 35 years. Sold it and with the money, bought two very small apartments. One here and one in Spain. We live in both, six months of the year in each. We are not landlords. We never let either of them out.

Maybe we’ll hear from some city dwellers with a bolt hole about their experience.
We did this in our mid 20s, and 30s, it was the right time because we could carry out all the essential works, employ locals (cleaner, gardener), spend cash in the community etc. There was no resentment locally, our children were invited to play with the children next door, we entered the dog shows, we made our property available to villagers who had relations coming to stay for a wedding. Friends for life.

I certainly agree with some of your reasons Coastpath except this one:
Because a second home is a luxury/vanity/entitlement thing
As I said before, minds don't always work in the way things are perceived. Often minds just work with no hidden reasons in terms of acquiring a second home, amongst those I know anyway.

I started off saying I have mixed feelings and I do.
Just trying to balance the discussion really.
Maybe we’ll hear from some city dwellers with a bolt hole about their experience.