How to Avoid Paying Council Tax on Holiday Homes

BASINGSTOKE, U.K. - Sept. 12, 2024 - PRLog -- Second-home owners in popular holiday destinations, are being hit hard by local councils with higher-than-average council tax bills in an effort to discourage people from pricing local residents out of the housing market.

However, Raoul Fraser, the Founder of Lovat Holiday Parks, believes that the answer to avoiding the increased council tax, is to simply purchase a holiday home or lodge on a holiday park, which are 100% exempt from council tax.

Comments Raoul Fraser: "We have eight sites in southern England in Cornwall, the New Forest, Suffolk, and Norfolk, and we have waiting lists at several for new holiday homes, given the demand which has increased significantly since Covid.

"The majority of our customers are retired or semi-retired, who want holiday homes in some of the strongest tourist UK destinations, but do not want the hassle of maintaining them.

"They also want to purchase in the UK rather than overseas, as they can just hop in the car and go at the drop of a hat, without the planning, expense, and hassle of organising flights.

"Many of our parks are in areas where second homes are no longer being encouraged and, what's more, councils are already increasing council tax for second-home owners; our owners pay nothing."

Comments Malcolm Bell, the recently retired CEO of Visit Cornwall: "I totally agree with Raoul on his approach.  Everyone is concerned about the housing crisis, which has many causes and there is no single silver bullet to solve.

"That said, tourism is often cited as one of the causes, as people fall in love with an area so much that they want to buy a place to frequently come and stay.

"One way of minimising the impact on the housing stock for local people, is to encourage and facilitate the buying of units on holiday parks and resorts. This brings needed economic gains without impacting on local housing."

Raoul continues: "I've always felt that, in order to be a responsible member of the local communities we're in, we really need to give back.

"In all our park shops, we hire local and buy local produce and, during lockdown, we also housed homeless people and bought local fruit and vegetable boxes from farmers for local emergency workers. Together, a combination of smaller actions can make a real impact."

In addition to its holiday home business, Lovat also sells holidays in lodges and holiday homes, safari tents and camping pods.

For further information visit www.lovatparks.com.