Sam Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, has expressed his concern for owners of holiday lets in North Wales.
Mr Rowlands, Chair of the Senedd’s Cross-Party Group on Tourism, says he is extremely concerned after hearing about owners of holiday lets receiving huge tax demands after failing to realise Wales' new occupancy targets were retrospective.
Mr Rowlands said: “I raised significant concerns at the time when it made its way through the Welsh Parliament and I am troubled now to hear of specific issues, whereby holiday owners are being faced with huge back dated council tax demands.
“Along with my fellow Welsh Conservatives we called for the Welsh Government to abandon their plans to increase the threshold for self-catering businesses to 182 days per year.
“Owners are not only facing having to discount their properties or rooms to encourage more visitors to reach their target but now some are being hit by a legal technicality costing them thousands of pounds they do not have.
“I understand that a recent survey by the Professional Association of Self Caterers, PASC Cymru showed that 47% of owners are now paying council taxes premiums and said they are now losing money. This must be extremely heart breaking for owners who are simply trying to earn a living and encourage visitors to come to North Wales.
“It really is about time the Welsh Labour Government started to support tourism. First of all we had the increase in the threshold for holiday lets followed by the ridiculous introduction of a default 20pmh speed limit then came plans to charge tourists for staying in overnight accommodation from 2027.”
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