Lets define what we mean by leisure homes – we can include second homes which are used by households for their own leisure use and then there are holiday lets – properties which are let out to a range of people over the year. Second homes are included on the council tax register while holiday lets are included under business rates. It is possible that a second home could be registered as a business, used partly for holidays by the owners and partly let out to others. It is also possible that a property paying council tax may be used as a second home but is not listed as such.
In 2021, according to the council taxbase, there were 13,260 properties registered as second homes, out of 277,512 properties. In the same year, data from the Valuation Office Agency, (VOA), shows there were 10,960 properties registered as self catering holiday homes.
In total therefore we have 288,500 dwellings in Cornwall, of which 24,220 (8.4%), are used for second homes/holiday lets.
The figures also indicate that 81% of those registered for business rates received rate relief, while in the 2019-20 period only 5,920 had an income from lettings.
These figures raise questions about how many holiday lets pay business rates and/or are recorded as receiving an income from lettings? The figures show that there are lots of dwellings in Cornwall which are not used by residents for living in. Contrary to many in the media (and a range of politicians) we certainly have enough supply!
What other figures do we have on the sector?
In 2021, Cornwall Council deputy leader David Harris, revealing details of what had been paid out in covid grants, provided some other information. “Other questions revealed that there are currently 13,255 second homes recorded on the council tax database and that there are 11,081 holiday lets registered for business rates, with 8,953 getting business rates relief and 8,869 paying no business rates.” [3. Falmouth Packet]. Of the 8,953 claiming business rates relief, 62% of the properties were registered to people living outside Cornwall, that’s about 5,550 properties.
A news report in 2022, stated “New figures from the Government’s Valuation Office Agency, provided by property experts Altus Group, show there were 11,805 holiday lets in Cornwall trading as businesses as of the end of May – 2,553 more than in mid-March 2020, before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.” [4. Cornish Times, 2022].
A written answer in Parliament in 2021 (5), revealed a total of 5,920 individuals with a declared income from Furnished house Letting in the 2019-20 tax year
Sources
1. Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, Council Taxbase, 2021.
2. Valuation Office Agency. Non-domestic rating: stock of properties including business floorspace, 2021, Stock Scat Tables by region, county, local authority district and rateable value band, 2021.
3. https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/19611143.cornwall-nearly-170m-covid-grants-paid-holiday-homes/
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