Owners of second homes in Wales are having to sell up. That’s no disaster: it’s a godsend | Will Hayward
www.theguardian.com
Council tax hikes on holiday homes aren’t ‘anti-English’ or detrimental to tourism. This is about preserving embattled communities, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

To try to tackle this, the Welsh Labour government, alongside Plaid Cymru, introduced measures to curb second-home ownership. This included giving councils the ability to push council tax on second homes to 300% the usual rate. They also closed a loophole whereby second-home owners could register as a business in order to pay the much lower business rates.

Gwynedd council used these powers to hike council tax to 150% in April 2023. By the end of 2024, house prices had fallen by 12.4% as second-home owners tried to sell up. In Pembrokeshire, house prices fell by 8.9% after the council increased the council tax to 200% on second homes (though this was reduced to 150% recently).

    • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.spaceEnglish
      7·
      19 hours ago

      I’m joking, but if it were possible, you’d need to pass at least a simple Welsh language test before buying a place in Wales. The locals have historically had a huge grievance with well-to-do English people buying up most of the pretty villages, pricing the locals out, and their lack of connection to the culture of Wales adds insult to injury. (There have been, IIRC, incidents of such second homes burning down, and nobody having seen anything.)