Welsh Government not doing enough to support landlords in tourism hotspots say estate agents

A body representing 17,000 estate agents has called for the Welsh Government to do more to support landlords in Wales’ tourism hotspots.

The Welsh Government are currently consulting on developing a fairer council tax system and tourism tax.

They are also introducing new legislation that means that from April 2023, local councils will be able to raise the maximum council tax premium on second homes to 300%.

As a result, Propertymark, the UK’s largest professional body of property agents, said that their research showed that landlords “were already selling their properties”.

However, they questioned the impact of the sale of these properties on ensuring that people who live in those areas have affordable homes.

“However, many of these properties, particularly in coastal areas have an on-market value in the region of £450 to £600k,” they said.

“These types of property are unaffordable to many local families.”

They added that “many investors in holiday lets were from outside Wales, and they would be looking to make profit on the sale of the property”.

‘Influence’

Propertymark however said that they supported the legislation in areas “where holiday homes make up the bulk of housing stock and adversely impact communities, the Welsh language and housing options for local people”.

They added however that in order to help local people, the Welsh Government should help landlords.

They wanted the Welsh Government to:

• Introduce an annual uprate of Local Housing Allowance.
• Call all for the UK Government to scrap the Shared Accommodation Rate for single tenants under thirty-five.
• Review Broad Rental Market Areas that do not reflect fair Local Housing Allowance levels.
• Encourage all Welsh local authorities to spend Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) in full and to consider top ups where necessary.

“They need to support landlords and increase housing supply where tourism is in high demand, including taxation incentives, boosting local authorities’ levels of Discretionary Housing Payments and improving positive communication with landlords,” they said.

“Rather than continued punitive measures on letting agents and landlords which will further restrict supply, we believe it would be far more positive if the Welsh Government did more to increase supply within the PRS.

“While many of the levers to boost supply within the PRS are not currently within the legislative competence of the Welsh Government and reserved for the UK
Government, we believe that the Welsh Government should use its influence to communicate with the UK Government.”