Firm action needed to control runaway second home buying
THE time has come to take firm action to protect communities and first time buyers against the economic oppression of runaway second home purchases.
Last week Plaid Cymru published a 16-page report containing five main recommendations ahead of a debate in the Senedd.
The proposed measures include changing planning laws to allow councils to impose a cap on the number of second homes, allowing councils to charge council tax premiums of up to 200% on second homes and having the Welsh Government bring forward regulations to treble the Land Transaction Tax charge on the purchase of second properties.
Closing the loophole that allows second home owners to register their property as “businesses” in order to avoid paying the council tax premium is vital.
A licensing scheme for renting properties through companies such as AirBnB is needed to control the numbers, And we also propose to empower councils to build houses with a local conditions on them, make it easier to bring empty properties back into use and redefine the term ‘affordable home’ (which currently includes properties worth over £250,000.)
The main purpose of devolution was so that we in Wales would have the powers to fix our problems ourselves, but the situation isn’t improving with over a third of homes sold in Gwynedd and Ynys Môn in the last financial year being
purchased as second properties.
12% of Gwynedd’s housing stock consists of second homes owned by people outside the county, this is among the highest in Europe and the subsequent price inflation in a low-wage area means that people are simply unable to buy a home within
their own community.
The series of measures proposed by Plaid Cymru are designed to bring the situation under control and empower communities through targeted, proportional interventions and I hope the Welsh Government will consider them seriously.
Countries all over the world have taken action in the face of similar circumstances, for example New Zealand and Denmark have simply banned property sales for noncitizens.
We can’t go on like this. It’s not fair that people who are living in areas
already disadvantaged in terms of a lack of work opportunities have to see their communities slowly being transformed as locals have to move away in order to find a house.
Please e-mail me at Sian. Gwenllian@Senedd.Cymru should you like a copy of the report.