I recognise that holiday lets contribute to the economy, create jobs, and support tourism. I assure you that I back small businesses, including responsible short-term holiday letting, which I recognise brings significant investment to local communities. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge the impact that large numbers of holiday lets concentrated in an area can have on local communities. There are many locations in the UK where local people are simply priced out of living in the areas they are from, such as in parts of Cornwall and Norfolk.
The Government has published draft legislation to abolish the furnished holiday lettings tax regime from April 2025. As I understand it, the intention is to align the tax rules for furnished holiday lettings with those for other property businesses.
My personal preference would be for a regime based on geography, potentially at local council level, so that problem areas can make use of this change but that it doesn’t cause unintended consequences elsewhere.
Kieran