Owners of second homes in Wales are having to sell up. That’s no disaster: it’s a godsend | Will Hayward
A little more than two years ago, Wells The councils gave the powers to increase the council tax on a large scale in the second homes. If you are going to read modern newspapers, you will think this is a disaster.
“angerHe said explicitly. A “Failed” policy that it “In Thaters“After 30,000 pounds of home prices,” he regretted the telegraph. In fact, these publications are correct: the changes have led to something from some of the second home owners. What seems that the titles were missed, however, this was the point.
Due to the indisputable truth that our country is wonderful and bloody, people love to visit and buy the second homes here. In some parts of Cymru, this has become a big problem. In Gyneed County, The numbers were astronomical. In 2021 of all properties in Beddgelert, 23 % of the second homes. It was 25 % in Esdaron and up to 40 % in Llaningan.
This has many effects on beating. House prices rise, so that local young people cannot get the ladder as they grew up. Many of them are Welsh speakers in the first language, which means that the language is threatened in these rural areas that protect Cymraeg-Welsh Language-several centuries.
The high rates of the second house ownership also means that unless the weather is good (which is in Wales is often like a eclipse), these cities and villages are half empty. This causes the bars to be closed. There are fewer children, so schools are closed. Eaten the heart of our societies.
In an attempt to address this, the Welsh Labor Party government, along with Plaid Cymru, presented measures to curb the ownership of the second house. This included giving councils the ability to pay the council tax on the second homes to 300 % of the usual rate. They also closed a loophole as the second housewives can register as a company to pay a lot of low business prices.
The GWYNEDD Council used these powers The Board of the Height Council to 150 % In April 2023, by the end of 2024, home prices were It decreased by 12.4 % The second homes also tried to sell. In Pimberkashire, house prices fell 8.9 % after the council increased Council tax to 200 % on the second homes (Although this has decreased to 150 % recently).
As often in the era of cultural war, some elements of the media have lost their minds. I mentioned the mail It has been widely widely reported widely widely widely as a “anti -English attack” and decreased in home prices.
First things: Let’s set aside this “anti -English” garbage. About two thirds of holiday homes In Pimberkashire lives in Wales, mostly south of Wales. The English language is not the issue here. Second, only in summer before, Daily Mail was reporting how tourists were. “Flow in large numbers To the most important sites in the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, “so it cannot reach tourism.
Finally, it is difficult to see low home prices as anything other than positive. Often, the changes in politics seem to do little to help ordinary people directly and often cause active damage (disability changes, for example). What we have here is to pay a controversial policy because it will help direct communities that are negatively affected by the decisions of those who have more money.
Not that policy is perfect. Closing the work marks of work means that to register as a business, property must be allowed by 50 % of the year (182 days). So even if your property is allowed every week and every July and August, you will not qualify as a business. This has been completely punished by many legitimate companies, and even the engraved Cymru has admitted that he would need to reduce that if he was in power after 2026.
However, the impact of tourism is not only on the second homes. It also causes problems for societies in terms of traffic, infrastructure and parking lots. To try to alleviate this, Welsh government It is to provide a tourist tax. This visitor’s tax is like this that you pay when you go to places like Barcelona on vacation.
Anyone who reads this column regularly knows that I feel a deep contempt for how Wales controls him since his transfer and feels that the Welsh government showed that there was no ambition for the country. But when it comes to tourism taxes, I think they have achieved it correctly.
The new law allows the councils to impose fixed fees of 1.25 pounds per person per night against Airbnbs, hotels, self -autonomy and 75 pixels per night for the location of the camps (stadiums) and remain in the youth houses. Children are exempted from imposing fees on a visitor tax, which means that if parents deport their children for a week, this will add 17.50 pounds to stay.
These funds are kept by the local authorities and must be used to maintain the Welsh language, the sustainable economic growth of tourism, or improve the infrastructure, facilities and services used by visitors.
honestly, An additional 1.25 pounds to stay a night in Wales is the deal of the century. In the same way that you visit in a free museum, you thank some of them from thanks, as this is an investment in the place you visit.
It is a studied political industry. The fees are returned if you are a disabled person with a care provider, or a homeless person puts by the council or having to stay due to a state of emergency such as a health problem or flood. You don’t also have to pay if you are there for more than 31 days (they don’t want to punish the hotel residents).
I am not a moment that saying tourism is not a vital industry for Cymru – it is definitely. I also don’t say that it does not face its challenges, although the data indicates that bad weather is Easily larger us.
If you have spent some of the last warm weather and banking holidays in Wales, I will bear your flawless taste. If you don’t, you should know that you are really welcome. Please come to Wales. We are pleased to be for you. But prepare your host, and leave it how you found it.
