A Labour candidate hoping to become the MP in a popular tourist area is on the warpath over what she calls a “tax loophole” for private landlords.
Alison Hume, who is standing for Labour in the next general election at Whitby and Scarborough, has told the Northern Echo: “Currently, there is a loophole for second homeowners to avoid paying the council tax by simply changing their residence to a business and then letting out the property for a couple of weeks a year via schemes like Airbnb.
“This is really hitting coastal areas like Whitby and Scarborough hard. Also, local authority funding is likely to be under increased pressure with the introduction of the new North Yorkshire Council at the beginning of April which makes it even more important to stop landlords exploiting the system.”
Councillors on the local North Yorkshire authority have already voted to double council tax on second home owners when legislation is passed allowing them to do so, and in June last year a referendum – which attracted just a 23 per cent turnout – voted to ban new build homes being purchased by landlords or holiday homers.
Hume tells the Northern Echo: “House prices in Whitby have now topped £250,000, pricing many first-time buyers and local people out of the Whitby and district market. This will have a devastating impact on social and economic development, forcing young families to move away putting pressure on the labour market.”
She wants short let landlords to be mandated to have a licence to operate, and be subject to the same health and safety regulations already applying to long term lets.
Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for nearby York, is attempting to pilot a Bill through the House of Commons calling for the Scottish Government’s short let licensing model to be extended across England, enabling local authorities to set up control zones to limit the expansion of holiday lets where housing is under pressure.
The measure would also give councils new powers to close down short lets that are causing a repeated nuisance to local residents, and returning these homes to mainstream residential use.
Maskell says her initiatives – which differs from that suggested by the UK government last year – is backed by numerous other MPs who want to protect rural, coastal and urban communities with a common concern about ”villages hollowed out by holiday let investors and second home-owners, and urban streets that are now party streets.”
