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.

What can I say. I'm not young.

Exactly. Up until earlier this year I lived in a flat owned by a couple who rent flats out as holiday lets in a seaside resort. They are full between April and end of September and they are cheap shitholes. Any that don’t get filled can be let out year round to locals or the council can let them to house people on the housing list.

Leaving them to stand empty is a choice or they aren’t empty.

I like the fact that the BBC has pointed out that there are lots of landlords in this situation in Blackpool but fails to point out this might just be because there are loads of landlords taking the piss.

This. News must be thin on the ground at the moment. She would also be liable for capital gains tax but would still have enough to pay off the outstanding tax. It’s clickbait for the anti landlord brigade though😂

Gloating is never attractive. Gloating as a result of envy is particularly unattractive.

Being nosey. I had a look at her letting website. The flats are very basic but the rates are really low. I should have thought they would have had no problem letting them all year round.

Huh.

So saying that a woman taking the piss out of the system and trying to get out of taxation, in the middle of a housing crisis is ...

...check notes ...

Jealousy

As opposed to grifting and getting caught out trying to grift.

Ok then.

So much nastiness and jealousy these days.

She's paid tax on all these places she bought and you're all happy to air b n b them when you want to stay somewhere for your weekends away but begrudge someone having worked to pay for and bought them.

The income to local businesses from people renting her properties will be massive.

To be glad someone has a £20k bill for anything is disgusting.

How about gloating because by stupidly following the law (unfashionable though it may be) no of us is facing the consequences of our actions ? Is that allowed ?

I can guarantee that had this story concerned someone with a less British surname and complexion, the gloating would have started with the Daily Mail story.

But she is only letting them out for less than 70 nights a year.

Do you think local businesses would get more income from people who could live in them for longer than 70 nights year?

All the people who actually live and work (on low pay) in the holiday destination - where are they supposed to live when all the reasonably-priced properties have been bought by holiday-let landlords?

How on earth is it envy? I would absolutely hate to be a landlord and so would lots of people.

Not having sympathy for someone who has eight properties to rent out but who would rather be diagnosed with a terminal illness rather than sell one of the property to pay her tax bill isn't envy.

She makes more money by holiday letting, is the simple answer.
Zero sympathy here.

70 nights a year seems low- surely lots of holiday lets have quiet periods. That said, surely she should either pay council tax or an equivalent for holiday lets

True.
People going on holiday need a place to stay.
People living in a place need a place to live.
If a property is marketed as a place to stay is only occupied for less than 70 nights a year, could it be better used as a place to live?

In the scheme of things she’s not exactly hard done by is she? She will have to manage. The sob sob story is most unattractive; the reality is she will cope.

Fab. So I shouldnt pay tax on anything because I don't like the rules.

Great! Let's all do that.

Anyone who is critical is just jealous because they havent decided to do the same.

(Facepalm)

At least try and have a coherent argument please.

Without wishing to sound too snobby - and I'm sure you'll know what I mean here - Blackpool isn't exactly the classiest resort in the world, and I suspect cash-in-hand, off the books transactions probably make up about 80% of this woman's business. People renting them get it cheap and ask no questions, she keeps everything hidden from the taxman and pretends they're only occupied a bare minimum of nights.

Then they get all sadface when it bites them on the arse.

WTF?
I am a LL of one long term let and I have zero sympathy for any LL who fails to pay due tax or ignores the rules. I’m afraid to say there are probably far too many of both. Zero sympathy for any of them who get caught.

Surely businesses would benefit much more from 365 day occupation, than 70 day?

I DODGED TAX BECAUSE THE DAILY MAIL AGREED WITH ME

is never going to be the accurate headline for this story though. Although it is admirably clickbaity.

TEN WAYS TO DODGE YOUR TAX - YOU WON'T BELIEVE #7

is something ChatGPT proposed after being trained on Daily MailaGraph content for a few seconds.

I’m happy to stay in an Airbnb. But I’m not happy that Airbnbs and BTL generally have put such responsibility and money into the hands of essentially unregulated landlords. You shouldn’t be able to become a landlord without rigorous checks, large cash holdings, compulsion to sell to long term tenants at a substantial discount, extra taxes, and so on.

There are social priorities way above ‘nest eggs’ and ‘a nice little earner’.

For that reason I have even less sympathy. These are homes people could be living in full time.

The income to local businesses from people renting her properties will be massive

Hardly, if she's not managing to let them for even 70 nights a year.

It's not disgusting to expect the wealthy to pay their dues like everyone else has to do. These laws are in place for a reason. If you are concerned about landlords providing value to the local area, then you will surely agree that nobody should be sitting on housing stock which
A. cannot be inhabited by locals
...and...
B. distorts local property prices making it harder for locals to inhabit any local property
...and...
C. does not let the property to holidaymakers for enough nights per year to bring a significant amount of wealth into the area
...and...
D. does not pay the council tax that those properties would attract if they weren't tied up as underused "holiday lets".

Something has to give. She isn't providing value to the local area as a holiday let owner by letting for the minimum 70 nights, so she must pay the council tax that's due. And if she can't, then she needs to sell one of her EIGHT properties to meet that legal obligation. She'll be fine.

Then you're a hypocrite and what you're suggesting the owners should have to do is communist in approach.

YANBU

If she has a tax bill, like any business, she can liquidate assets to pay, by selling one of her numerous properties.

IMHO, owning several homes, which aren’t used as homes, while there’s a housing and homelessness crisis, is pure greed. Greed used to be bad, but it now appears to be seen as success. We need to get back to a self-rationing mentality: it’s morally right to only take what you need of a finite or limited resource, to avoid others going without.

Council tax should be payable on homes whether they’re used or not. Higher if sat empty, as it’s a wasted resource and undermines a vibrant neighbourhood where people spend money in neighbourhood businesses, e.g. in shops, eateries etc.

Holiday lets should have a separate planning use class, requiring planning permission, as it’s effectively turning residential land use into commercial. Different taxes should apply. It should be left to local decisions whether to give permission to convert to holiday lets, depending on what balance local people want between a good supply of affordable homes and encouraging tourism to boost the local economy and create jobs.