Ongoing housing supply issues in England, Scotland, and Wales are now leading to an increase in government policies to regulate short-term and holiday lets.
This represents a change in direction for the government. Short-term lets have to date been given favourable treatment in light of their economic benefits for the tourist industry and to homeowners making money from spare rooms and second homes.
However, in recent years due to a sustained attack on the PRS by successive governments, more landlords have decided to join the short-let sector, “to the detriment of long-term sustainable renting” according to Ben Beadle from the NRLA.
Ben has also said: “What we see today is entirely a problem of the government’s own making, which has decimated rented housing supply when demand is at record highs.”
As a consequence, the government has therefore proposed measures to make accessing the benefits of renting on a short-term basis more stringent.
To benefit from business rate relief instead of paying council tax from April 2023, second home owners in England and Wales will need to prove that they’ve let their properties out for a minimum of 70 days in a year. The property must also be “available” to let out for a minimum of 140 days.
Elsewhere in the UK, in Scotland a licensing scheme was launched in October 2022. All local authorities are now required to have a licensing scheme in place for short-term lets. This means that new hosts now need a licence before they can welcome guests.
The Welsh government has launched its own consultation to introduce a statutory licensing scheme for all visitor accommodation providers in Wales.
The government says that the scheme would aim to “provide a comprehensive database” to help monitor how many visitor accommodation businesses operate in Wales.
In England, the proposed tourist accommodation registration scheme, aims to more clearly define the size of the sector, its impact on long-term stock levels, and the impact of new policies.
