EDITOR'S COMMENT
• The saying goes that only two things are certain in life: death and taxes. In the case of the UK holiday letting industry, it was almost inevitable that HM Revenue & Customs [HMRC] would tighten its focus on holiday lets investment as it was revealed that the tax authority had opened almost 2,000 investigations into landlords letting out their properties via short-term rental platforms in the last tax year.
Specifically, HMRC is targeting homeowners who are not declaring income from rent, a factor taken into account by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt two months ago when he abolished the furnished holiday lettings [FHL] tax regime, thereby scrapping tax relief for holiday lets, as part of the Spring Budget. The government has stressed the need to improve the availability of long-term rentals across the UK - a need strengthened by its own inability to meet house building targets - and it is introducing stricter regulation to address a perceived "distortion" between short-term rental and longer-term rental housing in local communities, as well as to bolster the coffers of the Treasury.
While I talked about certainty in my opening paragraph, the future is less certain for the property / holiday letting market after the announcement that a UK General Election will be held on Thursday 4 July. While Labour are expected to win the keys to Downing Street, the FHL regime ruling looks to have been rushed through at the last minute and holiday let business owners deserve clarity about if, when and how the rules would come into effect and how FHL properties will be financed.
• Don't miss our webinar today [4pm BST] in partnership with Welcome Pickups on 'Next-gen hospitality: Embracing automation for superior guest experiences'. Our speakers include Savvas Georgiou and Giouli Vartanova [Welcome Pickups], François Lavie [GuestReady] and Liliana Resende [Tripas-Coração] - sign up at no cost here.
• I'm excited to attend a number of events next week, starting with the 46th Annual NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, before the Skift Data & AI and Short-Term Rental Summits. Do let us know if you are also planning to attend.
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