A homeowner cannot sell her cottage despite discounting it by £100,000 because of anti-second home taxes.
The Falmouth Packet newspaper reports that travel writer Debbie Pugh-Jones had her home near Fowey valued at £425,000 during Covid but after a series of recent price cuts is now asking £325,000 – yet still hasn’t secured a buyer.
She says recent taxes aimed at buyers of holiday lets and second homes have killed the market.
Her property has now been on the market for nine months with six different estate agents.
Pugh-Jones tells the paper: “I know somebody whose council tax has gone up to £6,000 a year, he wants to sell up because he can’t afford that extra tax.
“You’re going to end up with a ghost town. The locals try their very best to keep the pub going, especially in the winter, but the pub makes its money in the summer when the tourists come down.
”If that’s discouraged, that’s going to have an impact on the local economy.”
Stamp duty on second homes in England rose from three per cent to five per cent in October last year and Cornwall Council introduced 100 per cent council tax premium on second homes in April.
Homes that are left empty, defined as unoccupied and substantially unfurnished, for more than a year are also subject to 100% council tax in a move introduced by the Tory government in 2018 to discourage homeowners from leaving property vacant.
Yesterday Rightmove said: “Increased stamp duty charges on investment and second homes, as well as higher council tax on second homes in some coastal hotspots like Cornwall and Devon, are likely contributing to the higher number of properties now up for sale.”
The far south west – where many of the UK’s highest tax premiums have been levied by councils – is one of the areas which has seen the largest price falls of homes now coming to the market.
The portal says there’s been an “unusual” fall in asking prices. The average price of a home coming to the market for sale dropped 0.3% (-£1,277) this month to £378,240.
This compares to an average increase in June of 0.4% over the last ten years.
Meanwhile Pugh-Jones tells the paper: “The extra council tax that’s been put on definitely hasn’t helped the situation, and neither has the extra stamp duty on second homes.
“Around half of homes in this village are second homes. But unlike many places where they’re anti second home owners, in this village here we appreciate second home owners.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today