A leading union has emerged as saying that all under-used holiday homes should be acquired by the local council, where areas have a shortage of properties.
The call was made after research had showed that around 170,000 people in the UK own a second or holiday home, the most of which were in Wales and the South West of England. The two places that showed the most second homes in the United Kingdom were Gwynedd and Cornwall.
The union has said that local councils and authorities should be able to levy taxes on holiday homes or second homes or even buy them outright and pointed out that spending a few weeks at a second home is very different to a home that is lived in majority of the time.
Statistics show that there are around 40,000 people that own a second home in the South West and 32,000 of those people live outside the region. Around 30,000 people own a second property in Wales.
The call made by the leading union will mean that in those areas where property is scarce it will become compulsory for second-home owners will have to buy the property outright otherwise the council will be able to raise the tax on those properties.
This decision has been made due to questions of the role and power of the local authorities as it emerged that some families have to accommodate in bed and breakfasts.
With the news of this research the second or holiday home owners will have to prove how often the property is being used to prevent being part of the increase of tax. If the property is only used for a few weeks in the year then they are likely to be made to buy the property outright in an attempt to keep it.
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