A company from England has been criticised for inviting Anglesey residents to sell or rent their homes. Coastal Holidays is a company from Warwick and specialises in holidays situated in north Wales.
According to BBC Cymru Fyw, the company sent a letter to a resident in Benllech. The letter stated: "I am looking for a property in your area and was wondering if you would be interested in selling or renting your property in the long term."
According to Member of the Senedd for Ynys Môn, Rhun ap Iorwerth, this was a prime example of a company "trying to deliberately take houses out of the local housing stock, depriving people within the community of the ability to buy those homes, and pushing prices up".
According to Welsh Government data, in 2022/23 Anglesey had 2,208 chargeable second homes, slightly up on the previous year's figure, of 2,139. It also had 340 long term chargeable empty homes, down on last year's figure of 433.
On top of this, the average price of a house on the island is just over £266,000 but some properties can sell for almost £1m, while the average annual salary on the island is £27,000. According to Anglesey County Council almost two-thirds of local people can’t afford to buy a house on the island.
At the Senedd on Tuesday this week, when asked by Rhun ap Iorwerth MS if he "agreed with me that what we have seen in this letter is bad practice", the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language Jeremy Miles said: "I certainly accept that this is a bad practice".
In a response to the BBC's enquiry, the company responded with: "We do not see this as bad practice, we simply aim to offer an alternative exit vehicle/strategy to many owners of second homes in Wales, who are now planning to sell their property due to the new proposed changes introduced by the Welsh Government to extend the boundaries on business rates."
In their statement to the BBC, Coastal Holidays added: "As a business, we are looking to grow our portfolio of properties across north Wales. Our guests want properties in this area and as a result we are looking at some alternative strategies to give them more choice and to expand our business."
The company said that "as part of the Welsh tourism industry... we employ staff from Wales, from office personnel to cleaners to maintenance professionals, who all live in these areas and benefit from this employment". The company was also asked how many letters it had sent out on the island, but it did not respond.
In July of this year, the Welsh Government announced its plans to introduce stricter rules for holiday homes. The maximum level at which local authorities can set council tax premiums on second homes and long-term empty properties will be increased to 300%, which will be effective from April, 2023.
This would effectively quadruple council tax on second homes. Currently, premiums are set to a maximum level of 100%, meaning 23,000 properties in Wales paid double the normal council tax this year. Local authorities opting to apply premiums have access to additional funding, and the Welsh Government has encouraged councils to use these resources to improve the supply of affordable housing.
Under the new rules, however, councils will get to decide the level that is appropriate for its individual local circumstances. Councils will be able to set the premium at any level up to the maximum. They will also be able to apply different premiums to second homes and long-term empty dwellings.
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