In a startling revelation, a prominent figure within the nation’s premier lettings companies has launched a scathing critique against the government’s contentious plan to penalize the holiday lettings sector. The bombshell proposal, unveiled over the weekend, suggests Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is poised to wield the axe on tax concessions for furnished holiday and short-term let properties in tomorrow’s Budget, with a staggering £300 million set aside for pre-election giveaways.
Ben Edgar Spier, the Head of Regulation and Policy at Sykes Holiday Cottages, has lashed out at the government’s move, decrying it as an unjust scapegoating of holiday let owners under the guise of controlling housing prices and availability. Spier contends that the focus on short-term letting ignores broader issues impacting the housing market, citing a recent report by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) exposing the detrimental effects of the UK’s sluggish building rates over successive decades.
Spier vehemently asserts, “If the news contained in the leak is accurate, this will represent another example of holiday let owners being unfairly scapegoated in the guise of controlling rising house prices and availability.” He stresses that the government’s attention should be directed towards the inadequacies in building rates, revealing that only 178,010 homes were completed across England last year, significantly below the targeted 300,000.
Sykes Holiday Cottages commissioned a report by Oxford Economics, revealing that short-term lets contributed a staggering £27.7 billion to the UK economy in 2021 and supported over 500,000 jobs among local residents. Spier argues that penalizing short-term let businesses, rather than targeting vacant properties and underused second homes, is illogical. With nearly 1.4 million vacant homes in England, according to ONS figures, and over 100,000 in Wales, Spier contends that a more sensible approach would be to tax these underutilized properties, encouraging either their sale or occupancy.
Highlighting the economic benefits of short-term lets, Spier states, “It makes more sense to tax these vacant buildings or underused second homes, which both contribute very little. A tax such as this would also encourage people to either sell empty second homes or let them.” Furthermore, he underscores the strain holiday let owners already face from high mortgage rates and energy prices, exacerbated by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a final plea, Spier warns that squeezing holiday let owners will not solve the housing crisis but will instead stifle the very businesses crucial to supporting tourism spending and employment in communities nationwide. As the Budget announcement looms, the holiday lettings sector braces for potential upheaval, while Spier’s impassioned denouncement echoes the sentiments of those who fear the consequences of the government’s proposed tax crackdown.