to have little sympathy for this landlady facing a £20,000 tax bill

[cakeorwine]

You need to listen to the story

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0l91m83

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gegkxxlg3o

It sounds like she had 8 holiday lets in Blackpool. If a holiday let is not let for more than 70 nights a year, then it becomes classed as a second home.

Under a second home, she is liable for Council tax.
6 of these now seem liable for backdated council tax and she faces a £20,000 backdated tax bill.

Apparently landlords have been given a year to prepare.

She is worried about the tax bill and says that if she goes to the hospital, she hopes its bad news.

She also talks about famiiles who have come regularly to the lets.

But if the properties aren't being let for more than 70 nights a year, then they aren't very popular holiday lets - and should be occupied by people who need a home.

Maybe she should rent out some of the other properties to people who need a place to live in to pay the tax bill.

As an aside, it's also interesting to read the BBC article which does not mention the details of why a let might become liable for Council Tax payments.

No sympathy. This is a huge cause of the housing crisis. Landlords hoarding properties and using them as holiday lets instead of leasing them to long term residents.

Cos sad face.

Everyone wants attention and to be let off the hook.

Doing sad sad immediately gets you an army of sympathisers to donate to your crowd funding page so you don't have to fund your own stupidity as there's someone else more stupid who will.

Grifters of the world unite.

This just makes me think even more strongly that government should radically intervene in the housing and rental markets. People just shouldn’t normally be allowed to own houses they don’t live in themselves, and then only one home.

If you want to be a landlord - including short-term lets, Airbnb etc - you should be regulated very heavily indeed.

I agree, there's something sus about this. No one would have this many properties sitting practically empty unless there's something else to it.

My heart bleeds for her

Not to mention (depending on how they e set up their business) Corporation Tax, VAT and income/dividend tax when taking money out of the business. With an increase in visitor numbers to the area last year (peak of 6.8 million in July 2024 alone) it’s difficult to believe none of her lets were filled for more than 70 nights a year. Impossible, in fact. If this is something that’s come back to bite them, good. The BBC don’t really seem to have done much research there.

So she would rather die than pay the tax that she is supposed to pay?
Stupid woman

She can always sell one of the properties to pay the bill. No sympathy.

I dont.

She has assets of over the amount owed. She has 8 homes that families could live in (probably, I havent read the article)

Oh well.

Fail to understand why the BBC interviewer couldn’t have asked something along the lines of “Some people would say you could just sell a house or two to pay your tax bill. What would you say to them?”

have a situation where so many of the properties that could be lived in by local families are either second homes occupied by people who hardly live there at all, or are short-term lets.

"You get a situation where so many properties are gobbled up by non-permanent residents that there is nowhere for local people to live.

"You lose your primary schools, secondary schools, GPs… you lose your communities."

That was my suspicion as well. Letting them out cash in hand to avoid the tax man. Then coming in with "Oh, I only let them out 70 nights a year, I don't make much money from it."
Bullshit. If she wasn't making much money, no way she'd have 8 properties just idly sitting empty for 10 months a year.

Zero sympathy.

BBC. Ask questions?

How very 2005.

OP you do realise this woman can easily afford to pay a £20k bill? She owns at least 8 properties. Save your sympathy.

Yep so she’s hoarding property with no real purpose if they’re not being occupied much. Therefore she needs to abide by the rules on paying tax on those properties.

Eh?

Exactly

I agree.

It would annoy some people - but people need places to live in.

I wonder of all the potential "bed nights" rental properties have, what percentage are actually occupied?

This is a real issue in tourist places - look at what's happening in Spain at the moment.

That's what second homes ARE

TBF - they are not "second homes" as such - as the person who owns them does not go and live in them occasionally.

But they are clearly places that people could live in as a home but people can't live in them as she is renting them out as holiday lets - but not for many nights.

Unless it's "off the books"

And yes - the BBC could have challenged her on her with some questions.

Legally they ARE second homes as defined by the local authority.

There is no moral or legal difference between a second home and these properties.

Zero sympathy and I have been a landlord myself in the past.

People can have a second home they don't visit at all in a twelve month period anyway.