Holiday Homes in Wales

[CarlaH]

I saw this BBC item this morning https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyl52jz73vo and, if I have understood correctly, the hiked up council tax will be waived if people put their properties on the market which has led to loads now being offered for sale.

Presumably though if they price them at a ludicrously high price then it won't sell and they just carry on using their second homes with no actual penalty.

Am I missing something or is this just not really going to have the desired effect of releasing homes for local people?

Shameless bump. Over a 1000 comments on the BBC site not a one on here.

Not sure all I know is I would quite like to buy somewhere in wales but the governments attitude towards second home owners makes me very nervous. I understand some areas will have challenges with affordability for locals but not sure this is the correct way to address it.

This doesn't just affect holiday home owners. My father inherited his sister's house in Wales and has had to pay second home rate council tax for nearly a year now while we sort out probate. Very unfair as we were obviously not able to put it on the market before getting probate.

Estate agents won't sell properties at 100K or whatever over the asking price so that's unlikely to be a major loophole.

Pembrokeshire has a huge issue with second homes and the more that can be done to dissuade people from buying properties and never living in them the better. It's killing communities and a language in these areas. It's not value neutral.

Although I used the term ludicrously overpriced I don't think a place would necessarily have to be very highly priced to ensure that it isn't bought, particularly in an area where wages are low.

I suppose I am just thinking that the high council tax should apply all the time although I do appreciate the problem that Probateprobs raises could be an issue particularly if getting probate takes a long time. There could surely be some sort of exemption for such circumstances,

Second home ownership is clearly a big issue for people in certain parts of the country and just charging extra council tax but then letting people off paying it if they put it on the market doesn't seem as if it will be particularly succesful.

Its been far to long coming.

There is a big issue with residential property that isnt being used as a home for a long time and that includes empty property. It causes all sorts of problems.

It causes all sorts of problems and I am glad to see that something is being done at last

I agree that something needs to be done but my point is that by letting people off the council tax hike just by placing the property on the market is not necessarily going to solve the issue.

If nobody buys it then you still have your home and presumably if you can afford a second home there's a good chance you can also afford to pay more council tax.

I suggest that it will be more than 'putting the property on the market' they will be ;looking for a serious intention to sell, ie price asked, has the property been viewed, offers made etc

If not no reduction

Yes we just dodged this, a relative who left no will, who was also the beneficiary of other relatives that he was a joint owner with, who also left no will when they died (so estates had never been sorted out), died in 2019, it took until this spring to finalise the estate. 15 beneficiaries all around the world, covid, having to raise IHT etc

All the while the property sat empty as we couldnt sell it as probate had not gone through.

Nearly 5 years, imagine being stuck for an empty home charge on that.