People on Anglesey say they are being evicted from long-term rental accommodation to make way for holiday homes. One family say they have lived in their home for more than a decade and are now struggling to find anywhere else to live.
Speaking in the Senedd on Tuesday, July 13, Plaid MS for Ynys Mon Rhun ap Iorwerth said people living in accommodation owned by the Bodorgan Estate, who owned the property rented by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when they lived on the island, have been asked to leave in order for the change of use in the properties.
One family affected, who asked not to be named, said they have rented their home for more than 10 years. In October last year they were initially told that all the properties being were being assessed as to whether they could be turned into holiday lets. All residents have lived there between 12 and 20 years, we were told and anyone who was to be impacted would be given six months notice.
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However, around six weeks ago, those affected were told they had to sign an eviction notice and were given 10 weeks notice. One family said that due to demand for homes on the island, they are struggling to find anywhere to move. A three-bedroom property with a garage costs £1,300, which is about £500 more than they currently pay on the Bodorgan Estate.
"It's been really stressful and horrible. It makes you feel sick, you can't eat and you just don't know what's going to happen," said one resident.
Mr ap Iorwerth told the Senedd: "The actions of one landlord are particularly worrying. Through historic privilege, the Bodorgan estate is a very important landlord, perhaps our best known landlord from when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on Anglesey. The estate owns many houses, but I've spoken to tenants who say they have been told to leave so that their homes can be turned into holiday lets. Now, in Scotland, it was intensive grazing that led to the infamous highland clearances of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. On Anglesey, in the twenty-first century, it's tourism, but the principle is the same. From the scale of what I'm hearing, I fear losing large swathes of permanent population."
He had asked any residents impacted by similar stories to contact him and said a whole variety of people had their own stories to tell including a family who live next door to two AirBnB properties have been given six months’ notice; two sisters - and neighbours - who are being evicted after four years in their home to create holiday lets; a mother and her two children moved from their home along with up to five other neighbours so that long term homes could be repurposed. One family who have children in the local school were asked to leave by their landlord, but say that they can’t find replacement rental accommodation and are now on the council waiting list.
The Welsh Government, with Plaid Cymru who entered a co-operation agreement with them after the 2021 election, have announced a clampdown on second homes including that councils will be able to cap the number of second homes. You can see the detail of that here. Changes to council tax had already been announced.
Bodorgan Estate was contacted for comment.
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