Tenants squeezed out in England’s holiday home hotspots

Plus no section 24 plus capital alowances

Holiday let’s have far greater expenses than a traditional BTL.
Government policy after government policy has the unintended (but highly predictable) consequence of driving property owners to switch to holiday letting. The Renters (Revorm) Bill will encourage more landlords to try their luck with short term rentals
This really should be a licensed activity that requires approval from the planners. And ALL property-based business should attract the same rules and the same taxation (PRS - whether held by individuals or Ltd companies, social housing, holiday lets.
Of course, 2% isn’t many houses and some houses were built specifically to be used as holiday lets. As many places have more and more houses built, how does the percentage compare historically?

completely expected where ANY legislation impacts negatively on something which is in itself limited in supply.
Landlords run a business and when rules etc make it unviable they shift to investing into different markets or diversify.

No such thing as 'unintended consequences' when it comes to legislating in the PRS. It's purposeful. When you have a crisis in a particular domain then any policy is made on a reactive basis. There is no long term strategy because there cant be unless more accommodation is available. Lack of supply is the only issue that needs to be addressed - anything else is simply peeing in the wind.

With hundreds of our hotels being closed for block bookings by Capita holiday lets got to be seeing ever increasing demand. No section 24 to worry about it has to be the way to go if you’re in a holiday location. Likewise with serviced accommodation in cities where again many hotels are closing to the general public.

Once again a distorted view presented. How can you compare Holiday Rents (short term Self catering hotels) with normal rented properties? Holiday Rents have regular turn-arounds, expensive cleaning services, the owner pays all the bills (elec, gas, inflated council taxes, repairs), provides all furniture and fully fitted kitchens, bed linen, towels, etc, etc. The additional costs and replacements, not to mention breakages and a huge amount of additional management time and the so called holiday let seems less attractive. That is why the rent is so much higher. You need quantity 3-4 in the same location to make it pay. But then we see it is only 1.2% of the housing stock. Is that really a problem? What about the benefits of bringing holiday clients to spend lots of money in the area? Come come Zero Deposit. If you are going to do an analysis lets do it properly, or is this just an attempt to make the headlines, improve your profile, a act like Shelter? Kick the landlords that's the virtue signaller that gets you noticed.

Reply to the comment left by Bryan at 25/01/2024 - 11:04It seems obvious to me that you do not rent out a holiday home. Once it's all set up and running then management time is minimal. As a holiday home owner and have rented out our property for the last 7 years - we do not pay inflated council taxes. We register for and pay business rates at zero.
'You can get small business rate relief if:your property’s rateable value is less than £15,000'
We are honest and do not expect the local council to collect our rubbish. We have a private contract with Biffa and have regular fortnightly collections. In our case the annual cost of this contract works out about half the normal rate of council tax. Those owners who think they are being clever by still paying council tax are actually losing out by not registering for business rates.

Just a follow on - those holiday home owners who were not registered for business rates did not get the sizeable COVID hospitality grants. We charge an average of £600 per week and pay £65 each time for a changeover which includes cleaning and offsite laundry of all bedding and towels. We do have of course have several sets of bedding and towels. It is completely different business model to AST and it needs studying to get the best from it. We have recently had a 31 night booking (maximum allowed) from a couple in Auststralia for just over £2,700. Chatting with people from all over the world can be a side benefit of holiday lets.

Reply to the comment left by Dennis Forrest at 25/01/2024 - 14:04
Yes, there are other benefits and yes I did rent 4 properties under the SA model. So I am aware of what you have said. The point I was trying to make is the comparison Zero Deposit was making is distorted. It depends on what area you are in for costs. £65 for a change-over including laundry is exceptionally good. Yes I had a few longer term rents and that is where it can become profitable but the 3 night options under SA could be painful, especially a demanding renter. Query - council tax also pays for police, schools roads and local amenities not just bin collection? So do you get a discount from the council?

Reply to the comment left by Bryan at 25/01/2024 - 16:46We are in a popular country town, miles away from the sea, where property prices are relatively low. Most of my guests are over 50 and we have virtually zero breakages and a lot of our furniture came from IKEA, most of our bedding from Dunelm, so our place is not lavish. We sometimes stay there ourselves out of season and although there are lots of good restaurants nearby we make sure the kitchen is fully equipped for those that want to self cater. We are very popular because we are very centrally located, most things are within walking distance and we have a small private garden and parking for 2 cars. We also have solar panels installed in 2011 which bring in around £2,000 each year in tax-free income. Business rates also pay for police, schools roads and local amenities. It is only because of the 100% discount that business rates do work out much cheaper. Our minimum stay is 4 nights but we also give a discount of 15% on stays of 7 days or more, so taking off our cleaning fee our profit per day is much the same. We pay zero council tax so they can't give us any discount.

What a poorly and ignorant presented article by someone who hasn’t got more knowledge than a squirrel. Anyone with the smallest brain nose that holiday lets involve high costs and hence that high rentals. The landlord of these properties still have to pay all Utility rates, welcome packs, council tax, advertising, higher taxes, turnaround cleaning, and high maintenance, due to the number of people using the property.

Then there’s the chance of more voids, or seasonal variations, due to economic or inclement weather.

So when these articles are written, just be a bit more sensible