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.

And another ageist post.

It's Blackpool

It's not the place it used to be

We can't assume people worked hard.

A huge amount of wealth in this country is just inherited/gifted (or even won or obtained by criminal activity)

Is that you Judith???
😅😅😅

Working hard isn’t an excuse to avoid paying your share and we have a huge housing crisis in this country - mostly funded through inherited wealth - so it’s not an area for tax breaks

Aargh! She doesn’t have 8 properties. She owns one property - a hotel with self catering facilities. A hotel that is worth about £250k.

Back in the 80s/90s, when UK seaside holidays were superseded by cheap package tours abroad, a lot of B&Bs and holiday flats were converted to residential property. You could pick up a B&B that was making a loss for less than the value of a similar sized house.

Then it became more profitable to run B&Bs as HMOs.

Councils stopped granting planning permission for change of use to stop holiday accommodation being turned into residential properties or HMOs because holiday resorts need holiday accommodation and tourists don’t want to stay next door to a hostel for drug addicts.

Now, the issue is residential property being turned into Air B&Bs so the council is charging council tax on second properties to protect the supply of residential properties.

The issue is that there are a small number of these old style properties that are holiday flats that can’t be sold as homes and usually aren’t allowed to be let as homes, nor converted to homes, that are being charged council tax as if they were homes. It is kind of ridiculous that hotels that aren’t allowed to be used as homes are being penalised by a rule made to prevent homes being used as holiday lets. I would have thought the obvious solution is that if a property is only permitted to be used as a business by planning restrictions, it should be taxed as a business 🤷‍♀️

I doubt there is anything sinister about the “proprietors” being someone else. They have the same name. She’s 70. Her DC probably do the day to day running of the place.

I could be wrong in this case but it is certainly an issue in many seaside towns. Old B&Bs and holiday flats that haven’t been profitable for decades that aren’t permitted to be converted to homes, in areas full of HMOs (from those that were converted before rules were put in place), often run down because there hasn’t been enough profit to update them for years, and unsellable. Many of the owners are elderly and stuck there because they can’t sell so they keep the business ticking over to cover running costs.

Thing is though, I bet you're all happy to BOOK a holiday let when you go away. Someone has to own them and look after them - and let me tell you it's bloody hard work, and nowhere near as much profit as you might think.

It’s difficult to feel sorry for her because she just doesn’t sound like a very good landlord. If her properties were making any money she’d be able to cover her bill. She’d solve all her problems and probably have less stress in her life by just selling up. Saying she hopes it’s bad news if she goes into hospital is such a victim mentality - she’s made a mistake she just needs to take responsibility and rectify it

It's a business at the end of the day though. People can choose do it or not

She’s known about this change since 2023, so she’s had time to prepare. Brexit had a massive effect on my business as over 50% of the work we do is in Europe, it quadrupled our paperwork and cost us a fortune, things happen in business all the time, then we had Covid that very nearly finished us off.

People who expect preferential treatment like she does ARE part of the reason we have societal issues, there’s nothing wrong in saying that.

8 homes all unoccupied for around 300 days a year each is appalling. She’s snapped up more houses than she has use for, depriving others of homes to live in all year round. I’m glad that she’ll be charged.

Have you ever been to Blackpool? 😉

Again, it's one building. Containing holiday apartments too small for a family to live in permanently. She didn't go and buy 8 houses.

They aren't homes. They are tiny little apartments all in a building the size of one very large house.

I don’t think there is anything suspicious here, coastal holiday let’s are mainly seasonal trade, most holiday let’s are managed & marketed by professionals letting companies, so the let’s can’t be hidden, once you have paid their commission, cleaners, laundry etc, you aren’t making a lot tbh, been there done that!

Here’s a link to the we sit for anyone nosey like me!
https://www.westwardholidayflats.co.uk/

I hate this logic.
does the minimum wage worker, work harder than a high tax bracket worker?

just differing opportunities

Ok for single people or couples?

if a business can’t pay the required amount of tax and fees than it’s not a viable business

Exactly. I am a high earner. I expect in all honesty I work way less hard than many people who earn far less than me.

And yes, I studied hard to get this job but I was also fortunate to have wealthyish parents who funded that study, the good health to complete the study and the good fortune to have skills that are valued by society.

I wasn't meaning it's a problem. But they can't be classed as second homes. But I agree she may well be taking cash in hand.

And only one is a "studio style". The rest are a minimum of kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom. So they would make homes for many people.

I support a charity that provides affordable accommodation for people in difficult circumstances and one of them was just telling me how every day he wakes up and feels like he has won the lottery because he has his own home -a bathroom,. bedroom, living room and kitchen.

Except that isn't the case here.

There are no professionals or letting companies. There is this woman, and two family members, all of whom seem to be the "proprietors" (the other two not being mentioned in the article and she isn't mentioned on the website. And 70 nights a year isn't that hard in Blackpool. No it isn't what it was, but it is a popular and (usually) cheap destination for poorer families from a huge urban hinterland. And Blackpool is still popular through the year - illuminations etc keep it going. Out of 8 flats she can only manage to rent out 2 for more than the 70 days despite - and she said this - having people who visited up to 10 times per year. And she isn't some doddery old lady overtaken by events - she and her family run a business and are responsible for knowing what the law says. You don't get to claim ignorance of the law - if you run a business you make sure that you know how the law applies and what changes happen.

I think everybody apprecaites that many businesses - not just hospitality - are pressured these days. So are many families. It isn't an excuse to break the law, or claim ignorance. Funny how when there's a thread on benefits so many people are up in arms about those who break the law - even when they say they didn't know they had. But when it comes to businesses they are genuine cases and are so hard done to.

Agree. If she's nit even getting 70 nights a year on them, anyone else would sell half of them and maximise profits on the remainder. She's hoarding properties or renting them out and not declaring. She's exceptionally dim jit to have madecsure she was at least claiming for 70 days, but she's a scam artist no doubt

Some off the flats seem a bit nicer than the others ( more modern kitchens) so I wonder if that effects use per unit.

It is cheap but would you want to stay there in all honesty? I’m assuming you’d fork out a little more for something a bit nicer or if you really didn’t have the money something even cheaper with a cooked breakfast.

Possibly it is an awkward market to be in but they’ve limited themselves to only couples / families cutting out big parts of the tourist market.

Id love to see an Alex polizzi makeover.

Perfectly happy to book a holiday let.

However - if the holiday let I was booking was only occupied by tourists for less than 70 nights a year, I would think that it was potentially being wasted and could be someone's home instead.

And I do think that there needs to be balance between properties for locals and tourist places available for tourists who also help bring jobs to an area. I speak as someone who lives in a popular tourist area where accommodation is limited, there are lots of self catering accommodation and tourists also bring in a lot of money,