A Labour MP has told the House of Commons that “families are being turfed out of their private rented homes under section 21 notices so that they can be turned into second homes and Airbnbs.”
Luke Pollard, the MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, was speaking in a brief question and answer session about second homes in coastal areas.
He told fellow MPs: “The pandemic turbocharged the housing crisis in rural areas, especially in Devon and Cornwall. Families are being turfed out of their private rented homes under section 21 notices so that they can be turned into second homes and Airbnbs.”
He went on to say: “Does the [housing minister Rachel Maclean] agree with south-west supporters of the First Homes Not Second Homes campaign, which I run with Cornwall [Labour] councillor Jayne Kirkham, that it is time not only for increased council tax on second homes but for a proper licensing regime, so that communities can decide how many second homes should be in their community, to stop them being hollowed out?”
Maclean, answering for the government, said she was looking at the issue of registration of second homes through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill and other frameworks.
“We understand that, naturally, people want to go on holiday to beautiful areas, but there is an impact on communities. We need the registration scheme so that we understand and better mitigate that” Maclean responded.
In the same session, Maclean told Conservative MP Duncan Baker, who represents the tourist area of North Norfolk, that: “The new council tax second homes premium will enable councils, particularly in areas such as his with a strong tourism industry, to generate significant additional funding for local services. If they introduce the maximum premium, they will benefit from double the council tax revenue.”
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That would be a stupid move because any additional costs would be passed directly onto the users. That is Capitalism, end user pays.
If the tax system didn't actively penalise landlords offering long term homes fewer landlords would consider holiday lets.
Scrap Section 24.
Yes the Government and Councils haven’t the sense to realise the homeless issue that is hurting down the road towards them.
They are taxing and regulating private LLs out of letting good quality homes.
Every other month out they come with yet another reason as to why LLs are getting out of the industry.
They already spend £Millions EVERY DAY on housing all these unfortunate people that arrive in boats each day.
Private LLs have been bailing out Government and Councils for years and years.
Now they seem hell bent on getting rid of PRS LLs without any form of a backup plan.
The more they continue in this manner the quicker the massive problem will come forth.
But Hey Ho. they know best. NOT
This is it exactly.
Maclean. Stop removing the Section 21 the root case of the problem, problem solved how much more damage is going to be done.
People are using S.21 to get out of the business, who is this good for, 38% of Auction listings are LL getting out or should I say being deliberately forced out by government.
Why should a private landlord be expected to house a family with his own finance and it seems you want it compulsory.
The is another reason for a LL requiring a family to leave, some Councils now require a house let to a family to be licensed.
In many cases this was the deciding factor why a LL let to a family in the first place, a license wasn’t required so now why would you want to be stuck with the hassle and all the extra rights implied.
On YouTube there’s videos of councils building properties for asylum seekers and boat people but for some reason they’re not building them for the indigenous people
Why. ?
That’s because AS and BP are in their face at this moment.
The S21 issue is starting to come out now and will increase at a pace but they don’t have the foresight to see what is on its way.
Either that or they are just burying there heads in the sand hoping it will go aware.
This massive upcoming issue is fast approaching.
Taxation & regulation are what pushed people away from the PRS to the short let market. Rather than impose new taxes & regulation to achieve the opposite why don't we scrap the ones that got us here?
This Government and Councils need to work with LLs not to beat them with stick’s every couple of months whilst banging nails into the coffin of the PRS.
Contrary to what they may think we LLs are NOT IDIOTS but well educated business people who make decisions based on reality.
Don’t keep treating us as your private home’s provider whilst at the same time beating us
We are a business and all business want to maximise profit using the appropriate business model which will achieve this.
We are not a charity or a partner to the government to sort their lack of housing availability.
being given a notice to leave (and tenants can also give one month's notice) is now being called 'turfed out'
How about the 40 million or so British holiday makers who are turfed out of hotels and cruise ships every year, simply because the holiday they had paid for had come to an end as mutually agreed?
There are 40 plus million votes available to any party who will outlaw this inhuman behaviour by Tour operators and their hotel and ship owning cronies.
PS. When next week's holidaymakers can't get into the accommodation they have booked and paid for, perhaps their popularity might plummet?
Why do those willing and able to pay for private rental property not fight against anything that protects rent dodgers from giving up the property to more deserving tenants?
Many years ago we had a holiday cottage on the North Norfolk coast. When we discovered that the income was the same for the holiday let as for a residential let, we switched to residential in order to vastly reduce overheads. If government really wanted to improve the housing situation they should stop kicking the residential landlords (and maybe incentivise them) and kick the holiday lets instead, market forces will do the rest. it's not rocket science.
Why kick either?
Both have their place in a free society with hard working people entitled to affordable holidays more than benefit claimants are entitled to tax payer funded homes.
"a licensing scheme so local people can decide how many second homes are in there community" local people can already decide this by only selling to local people, but do they? No they sell to the highest bidder regardless.
Market forces will always prevail! Govts shouldn't meddle! They always manage to do something which causes " Unforeseen circumstances".
And then blame everyone else!
The government has now relaxed the method of ascertaining asylum which is tantamount to an amnesty. Therefore the pressures on the housing system will increase.
Ah, yet another problem in which, amazingly, the solution is giving more money to the government or councils to waste.
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