Earlier this month, plans were unveiled during a joint press conference between First Minister Mark Drakeford and Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, where they announced they would be “cracking down” on the number of second homes. From this summer, three new housing classes will be introduced; main home, second home, and short-term holiday accommodation. Essentially, under these new rules Welsh-based Councils will be able to cap the amount of homes owned by one individual, citing this is to better regulate the pricing of the housing market.
So much for freedom. Though this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, especially with the unplanned unofficial coalition between Labour and Plaid here in Wales – ever since the two parties met in secret to sign a cooperation agreement. Labour, as many will be aware of, was built on the premise that they’re the party of the working class, but today they have become the party of socialism. They are literally following a playbook; increasing taxes, the UBI, and now they’re cracking down on the amount of houses you own. Every Labour supporter I’ve spoken to has complained about the Tories raising taxes. Yet, here they are implementing a potential tourism tax and the lefties are silent.
Furthermore, rules about how many days you can let your home for have also been introduced – as well as the tax I just mentioned for ‘tourism’, plus a land transaction tax and a new statutory licensing scheme for all short-term holiday lets.
First Minister Drakeford said “Tourism is vital to our economy but having too many holiday properties and second homes, which are empty for much of the year, does not make for healthy local communities and prices people out of the local housing market. There is no single, simple solution to these issues. Any action we take must be fair. We do not want to create any unintended consequences, which could destabilize the wider housing market or make it harder for people to rent or buy.”
Though Drakeford claims this is to further regulate the housing market pricing, from what we can see this is just going to have a detrimental impact on a valuable income source (letting) and is a way for the coalition to further derive income from the people they were elected to represent. Just ask yourself why are they implementing a tax on tourism, and a new licensing scheme to let your apartment? Labour and Plaid are not the party of the workers.
One of the comments on the following Wales Online article sums this up perfectly, “will Mark Drakeford declare his second home and will he abide by the new ‘laws’?” and “anglophobia and politics of envy have ‘won’ the day. The answer was always to build more housing rather than drive out a valuable income source. Wales is heading for further decline.”
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