Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Holiday Let Regulation: The Truth Behind the Headlines

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Holiday Let Regulation: The Truth Behind the Headlines · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

0:00
Welcome to Holiday Let's Insider, the podcast that takes
0:03
you behind the scenes of the holiday letting industry.
0:06
Brought to you by host Planet and Sykes Holiday Cottages.
0:09
This show is packed with expert insights, real world strategies,
0:13
and actionable advice to help you succeed as a holiday let
0:16
host. I'm James Varley, the founder of
0:18
House Planet, and in each episode we'll dive into key
0:21
topics like property management, guest experience and revenue
0:25
growth, and we'll be joined by industry experts who know what
0:28
it takes to thrive in this sector.
0:31
In today's episode, we'll be talking to Ben Spear about
0:33
regulation, health and safety, the proposed visitor levy and
0:37
the pending registration scheme for short term Let's.
0:41
Are you looking to take the hassle out of holiday letting
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while setting yourself up for success with Sykes Holiday
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Cottages, you benefit from working with a team of real
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people with fast experience and knowledge, or providing a unique
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service to support you every step of the way.
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holiday home rentals at the British Travel Awards.
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Sykes users industry leading pricing systems, dedicated
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account management and a network of more than 700 booking
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partners to help get the most out of your investment.
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Sykes aims to combine trusted experience with local expertise
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to help make your holiday that's a success.
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Get in touch today to find out more.
1:23
Head to sykescottages.co.uk/letyour
1:26
Cottage for further details. Hello and welcome to Holiday
1:30
Let's Insider. Today's special guest is Ben
1:33
Speer, the head of regulation and policy at Sykes Holiday
1:36
Cottages. How's it going, Ben?
1:38
Yeah, not too bad. Thanks, James.
1:39
How are you? Very good.
1:40
Thank you. Looking forward to recording
1:42
this. So let's start with the recent
1:45
budget. What did you make of it,
1:48
including the proposal to give mayoralties the option of
1:52
introducing A visitor levy? This is the thing that has
1:55
caught most of the headlines in our industry.
1:58
Yeah, it has. It has not exactly a pro growth
2:03
budget. For example, as you say that the
2:07
tourism levy, the tourism tax, it's, it's increasing taxes on
2:11
an activity that these regional mayors no doubt want to
2:15
encourage and it's specifically overnight visitors too.
2:20
So not those day visitors who who contribute so much less when
2:24
compared with the impact that they have.
2:27
So I'm thinking cars strewn all over the bottom of Snowdonia
2:30
litter and so on. You know, it's day visitors that
2:33
that cause a big impact compared to the financial contribution to
2:37
they make to local areas. I appreciate that councils need
2:42
more money, but tourism accommodation, like other
2:45
businesses already pay significant number of different
2:48
taxes. So really it'd be better to
2:50
redistribute from Westminster to regions the existing taxation,
2:54
then add another one. It's not just the financial
2:57
amount, but it's the extra admin for all those, all those
3:00
accommodation providers, platforms, local authorities as
3:05
well. There's, there's plenty of
3:07
activity that the government doesn't want to encourage that
3:10
it could have increased taxes on instead.
3:13
And really it just, it risks sending people abroad when
3:16
really we want to be tempting more people to holiday in the UK
3:20
for the good of our, our economy and the environment too.
3:23
So yeah, we'll, we'll definitely continue to lobby about visitor
3:27
levies right across the UK, Scotland and Wales.
3:30
Local authorities there are considering levies, too.
3:34
We've heard some mayors already come out and say, Oh yes,
3:37
please, we, we want to introduce this, you know, London mayor,
3:40
Manchester Mayor, North Yorkshire mayor.
3:43
What would your message be to them?
3:46
I, I, it would be to, to, just to think about price
3:50
competitiveness. There is a whole wide world out
3:53
there that people can travel to. And if you want people visiting
3:59
your area completely appreciate the temptation to try and add a
4:02
few pounds. But people are, are price
4:04
sensitive and it's, it's hard to know the, the, the negative
4:10
impact you know you're going to have on, on, on people thinking
4:15
about where to go next. The UK isn't cheap to Holiday
4:19
Inn and other places around Europe are.
4:23
And yeah, you've got to be careful.
4:25
As I say, lots of taxes already on holiday accommodation.
4:30
Another one, another piece of admin is is not welcome.
4:36
It's been spoken about quite a lot.
4:38
It's been mentioned in the budget.
4:40
It seems like it's going to happen whether we like it or
4:43
not. So if if it does come in, what
4:46
do you think it should look like?
4:47
How should it be administered? It should be a national, it
4:53
should be a national scheme. So it's what the Welsh have have
4:57
done, it's what Scotland haven't done.
5:01
So a nationally set scheme. So it's, it's this percentage or
5:06
it's this amount per person per night.
5:10
You either opt in or you don't. And it has to be, it has to be
5:13
as simple as that. It has to be clear.
5:17
Ideally it would be for visitors to to log on to a central portal
5:23
and and pay back levy directly. There are all sorts of admin
5:27
difficulties with expecting provide accommodation providers
5:31
to collect it, do returns, report it.
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It would be far simpler to require, if it is a visitor levy
5:39
and not a levy on accommodation, to get visitors to pay it
5:42
directly to the authorities. We will wait with bated breath
5:48
and see what happens. Your short term rental business
5:51
is evolving fast, but how do you keep up with the latest
5:54
regulation, tax changes and industry trends?
5:58
The answer is to attend the House Planet Roadshow, which is
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That's the day after the Short Stay summit.
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Later in the year we'll be heading to Nottingham, Bath,
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7:01
available now from our website. Head to Houseplanner dot Club
7:06
for further details. Another thing mentioned in the
7:09
budget, and this was kind of shaped as a positive and then
7:12
later seems it's not so positive was business rate.
7:16
So So what's the situation there?
7:18
And what do holiday let owners need to know about business
7:20
rates? So there was a, there was a, a
7:26
COVID relief for, for the whole of the retail, hospitality and
7:30
leisure industry. This included self catering.
7:33
And that relief came to an end. It's coming to an end in April.
7:37
So it's been phased out gradually.
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Government have governments have said across England, Wales and
7:43
Scotland that they're going to use lower multipliers to work
7:46
out the rates payable for small and medium sized businesses to
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account for that loss of that relief.
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Unfortunately, this has coincided with the three yearly
7:55
revaluations of properties that's coming in April, meaning
8:00
that many holiday let's will face higher bills.
8:04
The increases have been caps capped.
8:06
There are different multipliers, different caps, different
8:09
thresholds for small business rates relief across the nations
8:13
of the UK. So I think it's important if if
8:17
you own self catering property to to look at what your new
8:23
valuation is or draft valuation in Scotland, in England, there
8:30
are ways to check and challenge the revaluation of your
8:32
property. So in England there's the very
8:34
appropriately named check and challenge on the gov.uk website
8:38
and in Scotland you contact your local assessor.
8:42
In Scotland you've got until 16th of February to challenge
8:45
your draft, April 26th ratable value.
8:49
In England and Wales you've got until the end of March to
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challenge your existing ratable value.
8:55
If you think that the property details that they've used are
9:00
wrong, because that will, those same details will be used in
9:03
your 2026 valuation. So while you've still got the
9:06
opportunity to challenge your existing valuation, which would
9:09
have been done a couple of years ago, you should take it.
9:11
And you've got until the end of March to do that.
9:14
In the meantime, I and the rest of the sector are lobbying very
9:18
hard for reconsideration by each of the national governments of
9:23
of the current situation because it's been a bit of a hodgepodge
9:26
and I don't think it's really come out at how governments were
9:30
expecting. So let's see.
9:35
What are the real world implications for most people?
9:38
Should they expect to see their business rates go up 10 percent,
9:41
20%? Is that what they should expect,
9:42
just paying a little bit more? It's really, it's really hard to
9:44
say. I mean some, some people may
9:47
well see a lower a lower rate, although I'd expect they'll be
9:51
in the minority. I've heard all sorts of high
9:55
figures, I think because of the caps.
10:00
I think the idea is that they'll be, you know, maybe a 10 to 15%
10:04
increase in England. There is a technical way that
10:08
it's been worked out in Wales, which means that the cap, the
10:13
transitional caps, might not be working how the government
10:16
intended them to. So actually it doesn't smooth
10:19
the journey over the next three years.
10:20
It's one big hit in the first year.
10:22
But as I say, we're currently working hard to make, make the
10:27
difficulties clear to decision makers because I don't think
10:32
they could really have been an intention to, to raise rates
10:36
quite in the way they have. And, and so inconsistently
10:40
across not just our sector, but it's, it's all, all retail,
10:43
leisure, hospitality businesses, pubs are saying the same thing.
10:46
It seems that supermarkets have have got a very small increase
10:51
when pubs and local small units on the High Street haven't, and
10:56
that's absolutely not what their policy intent was, as we
10:59
understood it from what they were saying before the budget.
11:01
So yeah, we're working hard to make these points clear to
11:06
government. When it comes to regulation,
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what are the key aspects that owners need to be aware of?
11:15
And I'm thinking here for people that are interested in investing
11:18
and maybe some current owners who have already been letting
11:21
for a while, but maybe don't know the full regulatory
11:24
landscape where they're based. Yeah, there's a few things to
11:29
consider. I mean some of the top ones if I
11:33
pick out, pick out four I think across England, Scotland and
11:36
Wales consider business rates and ensuring your property is on
11:41
business rates rather than council tax if it meets the the
11:45
daily thresholds and I'm sure we'll come on to that.
11:49
Secondly, making sure your property is safe, of course
11:53
you've got guests staying in it, obviously you know, you're
11:55
wanting to make it a fabulous place to stay, but but also
11:59
safety is key. So fire risk assessments, gas
12:02
safety certificates, electrical safety and others.
12:05
And you know, again, I'm sure we'll, we'll come on to it #3
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whether you need a license or to register your holiday let.
12:13
So in Scotland you do need a license to holiday let and you
12:16
apply to your local council and you need to to get that license
12:21
or at least a a temporary or provisional one before you
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holiday let. In England and Wales in 2026,
12:30
there'll be a simple online registration scheme coming.
12:35
Let's break it down then. So in terms of business rates
12:38
and council tax, what are the minimum kind of threshold days
12:43
in England, Scotland and Wales to make sure that you can
12:47
qualify for business rates? So in in England and Scotland
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the threshold is 70 days let a year.
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So your whole day let needs to be let out for 70 days and
12:59
available for 140 days each year.
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In Wales it's 182 days let and available for 252 days a year.
13:12
Much more onerous in Wales and we'll come on to that in a bit.
13:17
In terms of fire risks, you know, more health and safety
13:22
aspects here. So what do you have to do from a
13:24
fire risk point of view? And then also you mentioned the
13:28
electrical safety, gas safety. How often do you need to get all
13:31
your appliances checked and you know, PAP testing and all that
13:34
kind of thing? Yeah, it can sound like a lot.
13:40
And before I list all these, I should say these, these are
13:42
obviously, you know, vitally important for guest safety.
13:47
They're usually not that expensive to get hold of and,
13:53
and more info is on the on the sites website about each of
13:57
these. But the main things are, yes,
13:58
you need to do a fire risk assessment annually and it needs
14:02
to be written down for certain smaller, less complex
14:06
properties, you can do it yourself if you feel
14:09
comfortable. For larger ones, or if you're
14:12
not feeling comfortable or if your insurer requires it and
14:16
there's various other circumstances, if it's above
14:19
commercial premises and so on, you should get an external fire
14:23
risk assessor to do it. A gas safety certificate
14:30
annually again by some of the Gas Safe register Pats testing.
14:36
So portable appliance testing to be done annually.
14:40
Again, this is just, it's a, it's a test of each electrical
14:43
appliance in the property. Yeah, normally not, not very
14:47
expensive. And then what's called an EICR,
14:51
an electrical installation condition report, and that's
14:54
once every five years and that's more about the wiring and and so
14:57
on. Then there's other health and
15:00
safety points, carbon monoxide alarms, if you've got private
15:04
water supply, your council will do annual testing and there
15:10
should be A5 yearly risk assessment.
15:14
And also you'll, you'll need public liability insurance for
15:19
the holiday. Let and, and, and just one more
15:22
that I'd like to, There are others, you know, that might be
15:24
applicable for various weird and wonderful things that you have
15:27
in your property and that that isn't an exhaustive list, but
15:30
those are, you know, I'd say the main ones.
15:32
The final thing I'd say is do a risk assessment of your own.
15:36
So walking around the property, you know, come in as soon as you
15:40
set foot on the premises, try and see it through a visitor's
15:43
eye. Someone who doesn't know your
15:44
property, a guest who's who's come got the kids running around
15:48
all excited. They're excited and they want
15:50
to, but they but they're not, they don't know the property
15:53
intimately. How does it feel to them?
15:55
What's safe? You know, are there places they
15:57
could fall? You know, barriers on the stairs
16:02
thing. So do a risk assessment, go walk
16:04
around the property and make sure you feel comfortable as a
16:07
visitor that's staying there and and what what should be pointed
16:11
out where there might you might need some extra things in place.
16:16
And we should probably mention as well make sure you've got a
16:19
suitable insurance policy as well.
16:21
It will need to be something that allows holiday letting you
16:24
know a regular home insurance policy is is not going to be.
16:28
Sufficient No, no absolutely public liability insurance.
16:31
There may be other insurance that you want, you know, in
16:33
terms of things in the property, but absolutely it needs to you
16:37
know, you'll you'll want to check that you've got sufficient
16:40
insurance in place. OK, So that's run through those
16:45
essentials then we we touched on it before about the the
16:49
threshold days in relation to moving from council tax to
16:53
business rates. There's been a lot of
16:55
controversy in Wales because their threshold is actually let
16:59
for 182 days during a year which which is which is very high.
17:05
What's been the the impact of this and there's the any
17:08
prospect of the rules being changed in Wales?
17:13
Yeah, it's 182 we imagine was chosen because it's half a year.
17:18
But obviously lettings in place, visitors in place for 182 days a
17:24
year doesn't mean you're only working, operating, running
17:28
your, your micro business for 182 days a year.
17:31
So I think it it is clearly far too high a threshold and it's
17:37
182 is let's go back to what this is for.
17:40
It's considered a metric to identify whether a property is a
17:43
genuine business or it's a second home.
17:46
So it's to differentiate should this property be on business
17:49
rates or should it be on council taxes as a second home And no
17:53
other business is measured in this way.
17:54
A pub is still a business, however many pints it pulls a
17:57
year. So I think it needs to be, it
18:02
therefore needs to be done fairly in England, Scotland, the
18:05
threshold is 70 days let to qualify for business rates as we
18:09
said and that's so with an average stay length of five
18:12
days, that's 14 stays hosting 14 stays from holidaymakers.
18:17
You're clearly, clearly running a micro business and I think
18:21
most members of the Senate would recommend that it needs to be
18:25
lowered and I'm hoping and I think it will happen, that the
18:30
Welsh elections in the spring will be the catalyst for a
18:33
lowering. My view is, for what it's worth,
18:37
is that 105 days would be a reasonable threshold.
18:42
Operators then with a 5 day average stay would be taking an
18:45
average of 21 stays to meet that threshold.
18:50
Again, you're clearly running a business.
18:52
If you've got 21 groups of people coming and staying in
18:55
your property and you're cleaning it each time and doing
18:58
the laundry and then the advertising and everything that
19:00
goes into it, you're running a business and should be on
19:03
business rates. 105 days is also what used to be the level to
19:07
qualify as a furnished holiday let when that tax regime was in
19:11
place. So again, would seem seem like
19:13
an apartment threshold. 21 five day stays, I think most of us
19:18
would take that with stay lengths going down the last, the
19:22
last few years, we'd we'd be happy with 21 five day stays
19:25
throughout the year. Another thing to mention is, and
19:28
this has been something that's been flagged and talked about in
19:30
the media quite a lot is a registration scheme.
19:34
It seems to have gone a little bit quiet recently.
19:36
It's something that we were expecting to be brought in.
19:40
What do you think it's going to look like and and when do you
19:42
think we should expect it? Yeah, we're, we're hopeful it'll
19:45
be here soon and that's England, Wales and Ireland too.
19:50
We're expecting them to land in 2026.
19:55
Exact dates when they'll be open and then deadline that you have
19:58
to be registered by. Not clear yet.
20:03
I I'd imagine it'll be you'll need to be registered by the end
20:06
of 2026. The Welsh and English ones.
20:12
A fairly similar, although the Welsh 1 is more basic and is
20:15
actually for all visitor accommodation in Wales.
20:19
But yeah, an online registration should take no more than around
20:25
15 minutes. You declare that you're
20:27
compliant with health and safety requirements and others.
20:31
You provide basic contact details for yourself, details of
20:35
the property such as the address, sleeping capacity in
20:40
England, Yeah. And then you'll immediately get
20:43
a registration number. And in England any advert for
20:48
your property will need to have that registration number.
20:51
In Wales. This might come later.
20:53
That's still in draft legislation as to whether that
20:58
will be required on adverts. And how much do we think it's
21:01
going to cost people? We haven't really had any
21:06
definitive answers on that. Wales will probably Welsh and
21:12
will probably be free because it's, it's, it's coming in as
21:16
part of the visitor levy. So I think, as I say, it's for
21:19
all visitor accommodation. The idea is that it's, it's a
21:21
tool for local authorities to know who's operating so that the
21:25
levy can be collected. So I think it will be free.
21:27
England, it's hard to tell. I mean it could be 100 lbs.
21:33
They've said it will be low cost, that it's meant to be a
21:37
light touch scheme so I no need to cover the administrative
21:42
costs of running the scheme. What are the advantages of
21:46
having a registration scheme and I'm thinking here, especially in
21:49
relation to the data that we'll collect about the industry?
21:52
Yeah, absolutely. The data at the moment there
21:57
are, there are purely guesses about how many holiday let's are
22:02
operating around the UK. You know, you get upwards of
22:07
500,000. This is from data scraped from
22:11
OTAs. There's no nuance in that in
22:15
terms of whether it's a room in someone's home or it's a whole
22:19
property or it's a pod or it's an annex or a, you know, and
22:24
people use these figures in all sorts of ways to, to talk about
22:30
housing supply and, and the data's just not, not there.
22:33
And it's, and it's a huge problem.
22:34
It's why the sector's been calling for it for a long time.
22:38
It will also be useful to show what's happening in, in what
22:44
numbers where. And also vitally the growth of
22:47
the sector. The sector's been around for
22:49
decades. And actually the growth of, of
22:53
certain online travel agents is being used to say this is also
23:00
the growth of the sector. It's not, it's a, it's more and
23:06
more properties ending up on certain platforms rather than
23:09
growth of the sector itself. It will also help with showing
23:12
that, look, these are micro businesses, micro businesses,
23:15
this is where they're operating. They are not second homes.
23:19
This is what they're doing. This is their sleeping capacity.
23:22
It's it's showing really what what our sector is, which will
23:26
be really helpful for us in getting sensible and
23:28
proportionate policy in the future.
23:32
Definitely makes sense. There have also been rumblings
23:36
about EPC requirements. Now we know about EPC
23:40
requirements when we buy a normal residential property, you
23:44
know, you see whether it's rated ABC all the way down to G or H
23:48
or whatever it is. I think there are minimum EPC
23:52
ratings now required for long term rentals and there's talk of
23:55
this being applied to holiday let's short term rentals as
23:59
well. What are you expecting in this
24:02
area? What's the latest that you can
24:04
tell us about this? Yeah.
24:05
So there's been talk for a long time about EPC minimum ratings
24:13
being applied to long term lettings.
24:15
There's, there were a couple of consultations earlier this year
24:18
on exactly that, on whether they should be a minimum of C for new
24:22
tenancies from 2028, long term landlords, long term let's.
24:27
And that's precisely because, you know, as you say, when you
24:30
buy a property or when you rent a property, you want to know how
24:32
energy efficient it's going to be.
24:34
You're going to be paying the bills.
24:36
In those consultations there was a couple of questions asking
24:40
whether this minimum of C should also apply to Holiday let's
24:45
where of course the guests aren't paying the bills and so
24:49
it's a very different situation. It was a genuine question, I
24:55
think. I don't think it was a tick box
24:58
consultation. The sector and others have
25:01
responded very forcefully to say that there shouldn't be a
25:06
minimum rating of C for Holiday Let's.
25:09
There is no fuel poverty in Holiday.
25:12
Let's the kind of property that is a holiday let you know the
25:16
owner's already doing all they can to make them energy
25:18
efficient precisely because a lot of them aren't by nature of
25:22
their age and their fantastic quirkiness, which makes them so
25:26
attractive as somewhere to stay for a short break.
25:31
So we're hopeful that this won't be required.
25:34
We've been involved in petitions and speaking to officials in
25:42
various departments, in government, ministers, MPs,
25:46
they've been questions asked in Parliament all sorts to try to
25:51
make clear that this isn't unnecessary.
25:55
And it could have a huge impact if if all holiday let's had to
26:01
had to reach an EPC rating of C or spend up to £15,000 trying.
26:08
And that's on on a part of the tourism sector, which is
26:12
contributing hugely to, you know, to the, the boom that
26:15
we've had in the last few years of staycations.
26:18
So it's a real anti growth measure.
26:23
If, if it came in it, it, you know, it would put prices up, it
26:27
could have all sorts of ramifications.
26:29
Ironically, that would just drive more people to to travel
26:33
abroad for their holidays, which from an environmental
26:36
perspective is not what the government are seeking.
26:40
So we're hopeful at the moment. We don't know those
26:44
parliamentary questions. Our questions of officials have
26:46
all came back with a response that, you know, they're looking
26:49
at it, they've heard everyone's views and a decision will be
26:53
announced in due course. So we'll keep going.
26:56
We're still, we're still making the case for it.
26:59
And yeah, let's see. As ever, beware the unintended
27:05
consequences of forcing people to go abroad.
27:08
And yeah, have all the emissions in the on the plane, especially
27:13
new owners here. What do they need to be aware of
27:16
in relation to planning permission?
27:19
I've got personal experience of this.
27:20
I remember I bought a property and the local council said to
27:24
me, oh, you might need planning permission.
27:26
I said, well, I either do or I don't, so, you know, tell me
27:29
they didn't know. And in the end they just put me
27:31
on business rates. But this will be something that
27:33
people experience will will they need planning permission?
27:38
There is no simple answer. As with all of this the IT it it
27:44
varies. It varies across the UKI can
27:46
give a very clear answer in two parts of Scotland, in Edinburgh
27:50
and Badenoch and Strasbay in the Highlands, there are planning
27:54
control areas, which means that to newly operate a holiday let
27:58
since those planning control areas came in, yes, you do need
28:02
planning permission. Otherwise, in Scotland and
28:04
throughout England, the general test for whether you need
28:08
planning permission to use a previous residential property as
28:11
a holiday let is whether doing so is deemed what's called a
28:15
material change of use. And that's all about impact on
28:19
the immediate vicinity. So arrival, departure times,
28:22
number of people staying, impact on car parking in the area.
28:29
To be honest, it's worth chatting with a planning expert
28:31
if you're not sure. Just having a quick, quick chat
28:34
to see where you might stand. In Wales, local authorities can
28:40
require newly operating holiday let's to get planning
28:43
permission, but they need to bring in a specific legal
28:47
restriction to do so. This is called an Article Four
28:50
direction, which you might have heard about.
28:52
Snowdonia Ireri National Park has one currently.
28:57
Gwynedd did have one, but it was recently quashed by the courts
29:01
and they may look to appeal, they may look to bring in a new
29:04
one. So that's where we stand at the
29:07
moment. But yeah, if if you're not sure,
29:09
it's absolutely worth speaking to a planning consultant.
29:12
Just have a have a chat, because every property's different,
29:15
every local authority's different.
29:18
Yeah, yeah, every, everyone is different.
29:21
It's just so important to do your research wherever you're
29:24
buying. And yeah, speak to, speak to an
29:26
expert, whatever it is. If you're unsure about it, speak
29:29
to the experts. They might not have the answers.
29:31
That's, that's my experience, but we'll, you can wait and see.
29:36
What do you think is the biggest misconception about the STR
29:41
industry ban and what can be done to better promote the value
29:46
of our industry? Could I have a few
29:51
misconceptions if that's all right?
29:53
Because there are quite a lot. Yeah, two or three, I'll be
29:56
quick. So the first one is that, yeah,
30:00
that self catering properties are the same as second homes.
30:03
I think we've actually done a really good job as a sector.
30:07
I've worked really hard at making decision makers realise
30:10
that self catering properties aren't and that they actually
30:14
contribute 6 times more to local economies than a second home
30:18
that someone doesn't holiday let out.
30:20
And that's purely because of the occupancy levels.
30:24
So I think we have done well and we've we've checked shifted the
30:27
narrative there. Another one that the I mentioned
30:31
earlier, the growth in Airbnb equals the growth of the sector
30:35
as a whole. Data scrape from a couple of
30:38
OTAs shows the growth in numbers of properties congregating on
30:42
those OTAs. It doesn't show what the rest of
30:45
the sector is doing. And finally that if that scraped
30:51
data suggests that there are half a million or so holiday
30:54
let's which is the figure that's thrown around or one of the
30:57
figures that's thrown around, that doesn't mean that half a
31:01
million properties that might otherwise be someone's home.
31:06
So that half a million includes, and this is quite a long list.
31:11
It includes legacy listings. It includes duplicated listings
31:16
with tweaked photos and addresses for various reasons.
31:20
It includes spare rooms in someone's home.
31:22
It includes someone's home they let out when they're not there.
31:25
You know, they might live near Silverstone and they're, you
31:27
know, once a year they go and let their house out.
31:30
It includes yurts and shepherd huts and pods, converted
31:34
dilapidated outbuildings on farms.
31:36
It includes annexes houses which have planning restrictions on
31:40
them so they can only be holiday let and properties that are
31:43
unsuitable for long term living precisely because of that, you
31:47
know, that sort of chocolate box quirky characteristics that make
31:50
them so appealing to holiday makers.
31:53
So that's, that's, you know, a huge misconception and it's one
31:59
we're constantly explaining and that I think the registration
32:04
scheme will help to dispel because hopefully all of those
32:08
different nuances about what what is operating and where in
32:12
the sector will be addressed. So I'm hopeful that that will be
32:15
clearer over the next 12 months or so.
32:18
Yeah, 100%. I think they are brilliant
32:21
misconceptions to highlight, especially the second home
32:24
thing, everybody getting lumped into that second Home group.
32:29
And we, we do see this a lot in the media and you see it in
32:32
comments on news stories. And I might have said privately
32:35
and even publicly a few times that, yes, if you have a second
32:38
home and it's, you know, your property and you use it a few
32:41
times a year to travel to the coast.
32:43
If the council want to charge a bit extra to that because it's
32:46
not contributing that much to the economy, then fine.
32:49
But with short term rentals, holiday let's they are a net
32:53
positive for the local economy. Like you say, they're bringing
32:56
in six times more revenue than a second home.
32:59
And if holiday let's go, that's bad news news for the pub, it's
33:03
bad news for restaurants, it's bad news for all those
33:06
businesses nearby. So it's bad news for the
33:08
cleaners, etcetera, etcetera, the handymen, electricians, pat
33:12
testers, all this kind of thing. So, yeah, I think it's really
33:15
important to make that differentiation.
33:18
And then, yeah, with the with the, you know, half million
33:22
figures, something like this. I mean, the big thing for me is
33:24
the duplication. I mean, the vast majority of
33:28
property managers, if they've got a property, they're going to
33:30
be listed on multiple platforms. I mean, you know, if somebody
33:33
lists with Sykes, for example, you guys put them on so many
33:37
platforms and if all those are being counted, then it's one
33:41
property, but it might be counted 203040 times with the
33:45
number of platforms. It's crackers.
33:46
And I think there's an attempt to to de duplicate, but you know
33:50
that there are reasons why, you know, there'll be different
33:54
pictures, different addresses used different, you know, on
33:57
different sites for different reasons.
33:59
So that de duplication can't be completely successful.
34:03
Just just on that second home point, you know, when the
34:05
finished holiday LED tax regime was abolished earlier this year,
34:10
you know, one of the reasons given was because, you know,
34:12
we've got to do something about second homes.
34:15
Well, the whole point was that you couldn't qualify and left it
34:17
with left for 105 days a year. So there's it's a real failing
34:21
to understand, you know, these are micro businesses.
34:24
And as I think we've got better, I think the sector has managed
34:27
to get the message across better on that.
34:29
And I think, yeah, it's painstaking to speak to all, all
34:33
the parliamentarians, all the officials, but I think we're
34:35
getting there, getting that message across well, and I think
34:38
people understand that. Yeah, I mean, would they ever
34:40
say the same thing about, oh, we need to get rid of a few more
34:42
shops, we need to get rid of a few more pubs and a few more
34:45
retail businesses? I mean, yeah, bonkers.
34:49
I know Sykes does a fantastic job in this area, but I mean how
34:53
do you help your owners deal with regulation and and keep up
34:57
to date with everything? Yeah, we all sorts of ways.
35:02
So we well, firstly, yeah, we we engage ministers, members of
35:06
Parliament and officials for this sensible and proportionate
35:09
regulation. So we've, we're feeding in
35:12
views, you know, when policies have been being developed and
35:15
then and then share with our owners, you know, our Intel from
35:19
that, our experience, what the laws and regulations we
35:23
anticipate are on the way for, for self catering properties and
35:28
crucially make suggestions on how to react to them.
35:33
So this, I think this does help owners prepare for change well
35:36
and in advance. And so it does, you know,
35:38
hopefully it gives them a bit of an advantage.
35:41
We do a quarterly legal newsletter which includes our
35:44
what's the latest blogs for each region and the current
35:49
regulatory info for that for each region.
35:52
We do updates on our owner app and portal, news feed, emails,
35:56
FAQ pages, interactive webinars which are really popular.
36:00
So bringing in external experts. So it might be on tax and health
36:04
and safety and so on, and lots of flow charts and checklists to
36:08
try and make it simple and to break it down.
36:11
We also actually have a really good health and safety system on
36:15
our own portal, so you can store your documents, your
36:18
certificates and so on, has links to guidance and templates
36:21
like fire risk assessment templates, carbon monoxide
36:24
plans, so on. But it also reminds you when
36:26
those when those documents are due for renewal.
36:29
So it's quite handy, you know, single place to put everything.
36:33
And it also includes our property safety guidance, which
36:36
is a really good intro to to the different elements of health and
36:40
safety that you'll need to address.
36:43
So. Very, very useful indeed.
36:47
If there are people out there who thinking I want to do more
36:50
to to help the sector. I know you work with some
36:53
brilliant industry bodies, the STAA and PASC UK.
36:58
How can people help? Yeah, absolutely.
37:01
So two things. One, yeah, join, join the sector
37:05
body or or multiple. So, yeah, short term
37:08
accommodation association, professional association of Self
37:10
caterers, Association of Scottish Self Caterers in
37:14
Scotland and, and spread the word about, you know, on an
37:19
individual basis about what our sector does for local
37:21
communities and economies. We're in tourism, you know, and,
37:25
and reminding people of that and that it's all about helping
37:29
people holiday around the UK. And actually a great way to do
37:33
this is to invite your local MP, invite them to your, your
37:38
holiday LED micro business. It showed them what you do and
37:41
who you, who you employ and, and you know, the pubs that you, you
37:44
recommend your guests go to and the attractions and, and all of
37:49
it. I'm always struck when I go to
37:51
sell K for property, you know, the those welcome booklets and
37:54
the walks and the oh, and you might spot these animals or you
37:58
might, you know, this pub's a great one for, for this kind of
38:03
meal or this attraction or. And and that's what this sector
38:08
does. So it's yeah, I think those are
38:12
the good ways. And showing your local MP that
38:15
that's what you do is I think a really powerful way.
38:17
Yeah. Definitely great tips, Ben.
38:23
It's been a real pleasure. Thanks for joining us on Holiday
38:26
Let Insider. Absolute pleasure.
38:28
Thanks, James. Great chat to Ben Speer there
38:30
from Sykes Holiday Cottages. I hope you found that episode
38:34
useful. All right, that's it for today's
38:36
show. If you're keen to work with
38:37
Sykes, head to sykescottages.co.uk/letyour
38:42
Cottage. And for more free education tips
38:44
and trends from the STR industry, visit Houseplanner dot
38:48
Club where you can sign up for our newsletter, listen to our
38:51
podcasts and download a suite of ebooks for hosts and property
38:55
managers. That's it for today's edition of
38:57
Holiday Day Let Insider. Until next time, happy hosting.