[Brighton] Council imposing double council tax on second homes in Brighton & Hove.

[Westdene Seagull]

What I find abhorrent is working people struggling so much that they are forced to seek help from the council. The council then have the discretion to pay out up to the max amount of LHA. That equates to the tax payer paying the mortgage for a private BTL landlord. Preposterous.

If councils hadn't sold (on the cheap) their housing stock then the private renting sector wouldn't have any 'council' tenants.

 

[S.T.U cgull]

Are there any restrictions on AirBnB’s in Brighton?

For any with mortgages - there should be.. Most lenders will only permit 90 days of short term letting per annum.
Though it is incredibly difficult to police

 

[GrizzlingGammon]

Which of course is the real solution. Home owner (and the economy) is just going to have to accept that existing house prices are hopefully going to fall or become static as more of the "product" hits the market.

House builders have planning permission for millions of houses. They will never build an amount that will diminish the value of the properties they build.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

For any with mortgages - there should be.. Most lenders will only permit 90 days of short term letting per annum.
Though it is incredibly difficult to police

The article I posted said Berlin has set up a 30 strong team to find rogue operators. If you have the staff it must be easy to find unlicensed holiday lets due to the very public nature of the business? For example there was a suspicion of someone in our old apartment block operating an AirBnB and it didn’t take long to find the apartment online and also take note of how many days it was booked for in the future; he was well over the 90 days if you pro-ratered the 3 months of bookings which were visible online.

After the law change it was noticeable how the number of AirB&Bs dropped. It was also equally noticeable how hotel chains started doing their own version of AirB&B and started opening apartment blocks.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

That kind of doesn't work if their mortgage repayments are well under market rent.

They really is only two solutions. Build more houses to sell or build more houses to be rented out by the local council with a fixed rent.

Changing the council tax rules with the existing houses (empty or second) is a very short solution and a lazy one.

Many of the owners will simply sell them and the long term uplift in council tax revenue will disappear.

The problem is so much of our economy is based on the price of a house.

If we build millions more, inevitably the price of existing houses will go down.

There will then be pressure to completely re-calculate the current banding for the entire country. That all really needs to happen.

On a slightly different subject, the disparities of the council tax nationally are so unfair. I live in Wandsworth with the lowest in the country, multiple major transport links (no need for a car) and the bins get emptied.

That kind of doesn't work if their mortgage repayments are well under market rent.

They really is only two solutions. Build more houses to sell or build more houses to be rented out by the local council with a fixed rent.

Changing the council tax rules with the existing houses (empty or second) is a very short solution and a lazy one.

Many of the owners will simply sell them and the long term uplift in council tax revenue will disappear.

The problem is so much of our economy is based on the price of a house.

If we build millions more, inevitably the price of existing houses will go down.

There will then be pressure to completely re-calculate the current banding for the entire country. That all really needs to happen.

On a slightly different subject, the disparities of the council tax nationally are so unfair. I live in Wandsworth with the lowest in the country, multiple major transport links (no need for a car) and the bins get emptied.

Re your council tax bit. Charging a tax on a made up value of a property - a property is only worth what someone will pay for it - is an utterly bizzare way to collect tax. I say that as someone under investigation by HMRC for allegedlly under valuing my late parents properties.

I'm now going to get flamed BUT poll tax was a much fairer idea for funding local services. Everybody uses them so why not all pay the same share ? When I go and buy a tin of beans from a supermarket I'm not charged based on my properties, guessed, value. You could argue that tax should be based on the ability to pay - if that's the case then there should be a local income tax instead of council tax.

Council tax is the worst of all worlds for paying for local services.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Re your council tax bit. Charging a tax on a made up value of a property - a property is only worth what someone will pay for it - is an utterly bizzare way to collect tax. I say that as someone under investigation by HMRC for allegedlly under valuing my late parents properties

“The value is based on the price the property would have sold for on the open market on 1 April 1991 in England and 1 April 2003 in Wales.”


I presume this comes from an average of sales from the land registry. And even then it is not used to obtain the value but the relative price differential between properties. So it’s not a “made up value”.

It’s not a “bizarre way” , in fact market value estimates play a role in many business areas and areas of life.

 

[JamieR]

Airbnbs need to be clamped down on. Bloke I know bought a bungalow in Devon in 2019 and was bragging through the pandemic how he's making £40k p.a. I'm surprised you don't need planning permission for change of use similar to commercial property.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

[I don’t own any investment properties].

If it’s social engineering to get landlords per se to throw in the towel, I have my doubts that:
1. The number of let properties overall will fall in the UK. More switched on and business like entities/couples will snap them up.
2. The Airbnb thing is growing apace, I know ordinary folk who’ve got into that, the profits are huge. People are switching from BTL.
3. Will rents fall? I’m certain they won’t, my BTL clients are increasing rents.

Housing boils down to just one main issue. Our population had risen by 9m since the 1997 GE, yet we’re millions short in decent homes. A vast housebuilding strategy is a must, now. If Starmer can carry that out, millions won’t be dependent on vast rents or living in slum private sector rent conditions.

We stayed in a converted water tower on a farm in Heathfield a few months back for a night away from the kids. Was a nice unique property.

£220 a night and it’s pretty much fully booked from March to December so not a bad earner and probably broke even in 2 years on cost

 

[drew]

If councils hadn't sold (on the cheap) their housing stock then the private renting sector wouldn't have any 'council' tenants.

Pretty certain councils weren't given the choice when the Tories promoted the 'Right to Buy' programme. Up to 1987, 1,000,000 council properties were sold but under Thatcher they were only building about 17,000 a year!!!

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Since moving back from Sweden. I've been renting a (bog standard) 2 bed, semi-detached bungalow in Portslade with my wife and son.

It costs £2000 a month with rent and council tax.... 2 grand!! Add nursery costs on top of that as we both have the audacity to work full-time and you're looking at closer to 2.5. That's without bills.

I'd rather rental costs were regulated than landlords being taxed tbh.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

They’re next Thousands going up between BH and H Heath as well. The par 3 golf course will be covered at some point.

Driving through Victoria industrial estate the other day I noticed more and more units being converted to residential at either end. With the new commercial units being built between the Triangle and Hickstead I had wondered whether overtime the entire Victoria industrial estate will be moved out of town

 

[Weststander]

Driving through Victoria industrial estate the other day I noticed more and more units being converted to residential at either end. With the new commercial units being built between the Triangle and Hickstead I had wondered whether overtime the entire Victoria industrial estate will be moved out of town

That’s an accurate summary of what’s happened. Medium sized 1950’s factory units with offices at the front have fallen out of fashion and need. Instead, either huge new distribution warehouses or small flexible units.

 

[Binney on acid]

Guilty as charged ! I have misunderstood this. I was under the impression that this affects the rental market. I assumed that the tenants would continue to pay council tax, and I'd also be billed for council tax for the property that I rent out.

 

[zefarelly]

I do disagree. Pop currently 67m. It has been more than 50m since 1950. Do you think the country was overpopulated then!!

Not sure we've ever been self sufficient as a nation, at least not the last 100yrs. As Napoleon said, we're a nation of shopkeepers aka traders.

I don’t know what the sweet spot is, 40m in England in 1950. Currently 56.5, probably closer to the former.

Population density in the south east, and north west particularly is unpleasant now. A crumbling infrastructure only a to the joy.

As for traders, less of them doing more and more to screw us all down. And with an ever decreasing amount of homegrown produce it’s only getting worse, never have so few had so much with which to hold us to ransom.

Population & density has been increasing significantly since about 1990. As a country our infrastructure, having been largely sold off, has stalled and crumbled in exactly the opposite direction, particularly in the last 15 years. Its not good however you look at it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

What should happen is that any developer, instead of building so called affordable housing, should build units which are then transferred to the ownership of the council to provide housing. That way you start to rebuild the bank of social housing.

The UK used to be really good at social housing with many enlightened entrepreneurs like Guiness, Roundtree and Peabody building really desirable properties. Entrepreneurs do not seem to so enlightened these days.

 

[dazzer6666]

Driving through Victoria industrial estate the other day I noticed more and more units being converted to residential at either end. With the new commercial units being built between the Triangle and Hickstead I had wondered whether overtime the entire Victoria industrial estate will be moved out of town

Yes…it’s changed massively down there, particularly on the western side with loads of flats built. As usual not enough allocated parking so now the road is a nightmare The number of huge units being thrown up rapidly along the A2300 is incredible.

 

[S.T.U cgull]

Yes…it’s changed massively down there, particularly on the western side with loads of flats built. As usual not enough allocated parking so now the road is a nightmare The number of huge units being thrown up rapidly along the A2300 is incredible.

Looked at one of the first blocks built there 5 years ago. Shoebox / rabbit hutch esque spacing and a premium price.. Agents insisted it was a mere ten minute walk to the station

 

[dazzer6666]

Looked at one of the first blocks built there 5 years ago. Shoebox / rabbit hutch esque spacing and a premium price.. Agents insisted it was a mere ten minute walk to the station

 

[drew]

Driving through Victoria industrial estate the other day I noticed more and more units being converted to residential at either end. With the new commercial units being built between the Triangle and Hickstead I had wondered whether overtime the entire Victoria industrial estate will be moved out of town

Pretty certain they are only converting on Victoria Road down to the sharp bend by Alexander Rose. Think there is only one unit that is still industrial and that is Bio Products (possibly a couple of others including a gym). No, I don't think the plan is to move the entire industrial estate. The estate at Goddards Green is hi tech/logistics with very easy access to A23. In fact that site was being looked at by Brighton as a possible location for the academy but it was worth more to the landowner for it to be the industrial estate!!

 

[Hamilton]

I agree with the policy.

If you’re sat on an empty second home then in the current market you should expect to pay more. Whether that’s double or something else is up to the bean counters.

As we all know, B&H council is not alone in being close the bankruptcy, so they need the cash. All this will take money out of the economy to pay down council debt so again it’s cash that won’t be spent in businesses. Bad times still ahead.

Meanwhile, we have a government that will continue to try to pin this on small boats (all the while ignoring the fact that those boat account for 5% of immigration and that the vast majority of immigrants bring money into the economy through university fees or paying taxes.)

Still, at least HMRC at last got Bernie Ecclestone to pay what he owes. Maybe now they’ll chase Amazon and Uber.