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).

  • SabinStargem@lemmy.todayEnglish
    49·
    6 hours ago

    Good. Vacation homes should be taxed, and foreigners should get an even bigger tax. Local citizens and businesses should get preferable treatment, so that communities can be more closely knit together. The wealthy are corrosive to society, breaking down many humans for the sake of a few.

    • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      1 hour ago

      foreigners should get an even bigger tax.

      Yeah, the Channel Island of Jersey only allows foreigners to buy property if they had lived in the islands for five years. They are only a handful places in the UK where they have relatively less pressure on housing. Not sure if they still do it though. Regardless, I am all for this.

      The wealthy are corrosive to society, breaking down many humans for the sake of a few.

      The rich co-opted being against rich, corporate landlords-- or any rich individuals-- from overseas buying local properties and contributing to housing crisis as “racist”. I feel like this is talked about less. Instead, actual decent working foreigners are scapegoated.