South Coast council seeks MP’s help to charge Airbnb landlords more tax

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Chichester Council hopes to enlist its local MP to help make holiday home owners pay council tax.

It’s writing to Gillian Keegan MP (pictured), asking her to raise the issue with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities after it heard that hundreds of homes in the city were making use of services such as rubbish and recycling collection despite not paying council tax.

Councillor Graeme Barrett told a cabinet meeting that a significant number of properties in the West Wittering parish had had their tax band deleted and did not pay council tax.

He said: “There are currently 326 properties registered as second homes of which many may be let out as holiday accommodation.

“In the case of holiday accommodation, the rateable values are well below £12,000, and the average in West Wittering for this type of business is £4,750, meaning that no business rates are actually paid. It is apparent that these properties do not contribute to the council’s cost of providing services.”

Barrett suggested the government should propose a solution for councils to be reimbursed for the services they provide.

Holiday lets

Councillor Peter Wilding (pictured) agreed: “My view is holiday lets should not be exempt from council tax at all because they receive exactly the same services as a property occupied by an owner.”

The authority isn’t the first to try and crack down on second homes; earlier this month, North Yorkshire backed plans to introduce a 100% premium for council tax bills on second homes in the county within the next two years, while Cornwall now looks set to do the same. However, neither council has closed the tax loophole on holiday lets.

Read more about Airbnb regulation.

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