The Wales Tourism Alliance (WTA), which represents over 6,000 Welsh tourism businesses, has reacted with “incredulity” to the Welsh Government’s announcement on changes to self-catering rules.
As part of its commitment to tackling the issue of too many second homes in some Welsh communities, Welsh Government is raising the number of days a property is available and let in order to qualify as a business.
The current availability threshold rises from 140 to 252 and the current occupancy threshold rises from 70 to 182 days. Those who don’t meet that minimum will pay council tax rather than business rates - with local authorities given the powers to bring in a second home premium of up to 300% on these properties.
