The Housing Minister has indicated that the Government could go further on its second home and short-term lets crackdown.

The Government has already resurrected Tory plans to scrap the furnished holiday lets (FHL) tax regime from April 2025 but Matthew Pennycook has suggested there is more to come.

Speaking during a parliamentary debate focused on property supply issues in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, he backed MP comments that second homes and short-term lets are “having a detrimental impact on local services in many areas.”

He said: “A balance obviously needs to be struck between the benefits that second homes and short-term lets can and do have for local economies and their impact on local people, but many coastal, rural and indeed urban communities are grappling with excessive concentrations of such properties.

“When I was shadow Minister for Housing and Planning in the last Parliament, I spoke to many colleagues who faced acute pressures in their constituency, and the feedback we are getting from coastal, rural and some urban communities makes it clear that we have not yet got the balance right.”

Pennycook added that while he welcomed the end of the FHL tax regime, he has always been clear that it doesn’t go far enough.

He said: “That remains my firm view, so although we will progress with measures such as the introduction of a registration scheme for short-term lets in England, and the abolishment of the furnished holiday let tax regime, we are also considering what additional powers we might give local authorities to enable them to better respond to the pressures that they face. I will update the House as soon as I am in a position to.”