A Welsh Government plan to introduce short-term holiday let licensing is part of ‘radical and immediate action to address housing market failures’, according to one of its backers.
The comments were made by lead ‘designated member’ Siân Gwenllian, who has a key role in the co-operation agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru. They were made at launch of consultation on the proposed new licensing scheme covering all visitor accommodation in Wales. The co-operation agreement committed the Government to a statutory licensing scheme for holiday lets as part of a package of measures to address the negative impact that second homes and short-term holiday lets can have on the availability and affordability of housing for local people.
The primary aim of the scheme now proposed ‘is to establish a level playing field for all visitor accommodation businesses operating in the sector’, said the Welsh Government. There are concerns that ‘certain parts of the sector’ do not meet or comply with their statutory ‘It could provide a comprehensive database of exactly who is operating in the industry as it is currently not possible to determine how many visitor accommodation businesses there are in Wales, or in any given community’.
‘We are aware of the concerns around compliance with existing requirements and the impact of short-term lets on housing stock and our communities’, said Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething.
‘Over the course of the past year, we have been exploring and engaging with stakeholders on how such a scheme could work in Wales. As the consultation now opens, we would like to hear further views and would encourage the sector to respond to the consultation’.
Siân Gwenllian pointed to a huge increase in the short-term holiday let sector in recent years. This, she said, ‘is exacerbating the housing crisis in Wales. While we have a regulatory framework in place for private rental accommodation, there isn’t one that covers all types of visitor accommodation. Our proposals will bring greater safeguards to local communities on the use of residential dwellings as short-term holiday lets in particular, whilst enhancing the visitor experience and visitor safety in Wales’.
The consultation is open until 17 March 2023.
Meanwhile consultation has just closed on a Welsh Government proposal that local authorities be given the power to introduce a visitor levy – ‘a small additional charge that will apply to stays in overnight, commercially-let visitor accommodation’.
A response from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales called for any levy to be kept simple to collect and administer.
Visitor accommodation providers would be responsible for the collection and payment of the levy to the tax authority (which could be a local authority or the Welsh Revenue Authority), it said.
The rules should be easy to understood for both visitors and accommodation providers. There were, it said, ‘concerns regarding the administrative burden that collecting, recording and paying over the levy may create for accommodation businesses, especially small providers’.
