Holiday Let ‘Crack Down’ Backlash Gathers Pace

The embattled holiday let industry exposes the “rampant hypocrisy” at the heart of attacks on the sector today as new research reveals that empty homes outnumber holiday lets in the majority of UK local authorities1, reports Abode2.

With housing shortages across the country, holiday lets are often the scapegoat, blamed for hoovering up properties in desirable locations.

However, analysis of 313 UK local authority areas showed 58% of them actually have more homes sitting vacant long term than holiday lets, according to a study by the Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA) and holiday home data provider Key Data.

This blame game shows a misunderstanding of holiday lets' value to local communities. Holiday lets offer more authentic local experiences to guests than hotels, and are responsible for attracting huge amounts of spending to local businesses. Meanwhile, vacant homes might sit empty for years, not benefitting communities in any way, much like unlet second homes, which sit empty most of the year.

Looking at touristic areas, the worst affected is Arun Borough, which includes the popular seaside town of Bognor Regis. There are over 400 long-term empty homes in this local authority, 6.7 times more than the 66 holiday lets in the area.

Even in Wales and Scotland — the scene of some of the most aggressive moves to introduce new regulation and taxes for holiday lets — the numbers of empty homes dwarf the size of the holiday let market.

Welsh councils like Caerphilly and the valleys of Rhondda Cynon Taf have over 5 times more empty homes than holiday lets, while the Highlands in Scotland have 4.4 times as many.

The biggest difference in raw numbers was in Aberdeen, where there are 4,370 more empty homes than holiday lets — 4.6 times more. These are thousands of properties that bring no value to the local community in Scotland's third largest city.