Holiday home owners beware... you might get a surprise inspection
Holiday home inspectors will make surprise visits to second homes as part of plans being considered by the Government to take tough action on the short-term rental market.
Tens of thousands of investors in England may have to pass spot checks on their properties to stay in business under the plans.
Owners of second homes that are rented out to holidaymakers may have to operate with a licence or be listed on a formal register in tourist hotspots.
The measures are part of tough action on the booming holiday let market, which the Government says is harming local communities and failing to protect tourists.
It warned that it was aware of hosts neglecting health and safety regulations and a rise in noise, waste and drunken behaviour in local communities.
Under the plans, owners will have to join a register and could face surprise drop-ins by inspectors to ensure compliance with health and safety rules and deter anti-social behaviour by visitors.
Food hampers could be scrutinised
Gas and fire safety will come under scrutiny, as could hosts providing food hampers for guests and are likely to make it financially unviable for some holiday lets to operate.
The plans could also see local authorities given the power to restrict people renting out their homes for more than 90 days.
The call for evidence is the latest in a series of punitive changes to the second home market.
Earlier this year, local authorities were granted the power to double council tax bills on second homes not in use or let out for at least 70 days per year in a bid to deter empty holiday homes in picturesque areas.
The Welsh Government has gone further with plans to allow local councils to charge quadruple council tax on second homes from next April.
If the latest proposals go ahead, it could mean hefty fines for second-home owners running a holiday business without a licence.
Scotland has introduced a similar scheme which requires holiday let owners to apply for a licence with their local authority. All owners in the country will require a licence from July 2024 and to operate without them will be a criminal offence.
There is currently no such system in England, although European countries including Greece and Portugal require homeowners to register before renting to paying guests.
Thousands of investors scrambled to make the most of unprecedented domestic demand for holiday accommodation in the UK throughout the pandemic when foreign travel was out of bounds for tourists.
In a sample of 152 councils in England, the number of holiday lets in England rose by 40 per cent between 2018 and 2021, from 19,543 to 27,424.
Scarborough in North Yorkshire, which includes seaside hotspot Whitby, topped the list with 2,913 lets, according to analysis by the BBC. North Devon followed with 1,758 holiday lets and there were 1,614 in East Suffolk.
‘A happy equilibrium must be found’
Critics have warned that the rise in second homes and holiday lets has taken its toll on communities and driven up house prices for first-time buyers.
Selaine Saxby, the Conservative MP for North Devon, said that areas popular with tourists risked turning into “ghost towns” unless something was done to protect local communities.
She said: “A happy equilibrium must be found where we can still welcome lots of people on holiday, but locals can still afford to live and the hospitality sector can survive the quiet months.”
The Telegraph understands that no formal plans have yet been made for a licensing or inspection scheme and the Government is waiting “to see what the evidence tells them” before proceeding further.
