Second homes – do we have a problem?
It's estimated that 3% of families have second homes. This would be some half a million properties across the UK.
The rise in popularity of AirBnB has meant many homes being taken out of the private rental market, resulting in more families on council housing waiting lists.
Most agencies involved in housing, including the government, recognise that some form of intervention may be required.
This could be financial, so that second home owners pay more taxation through council tax or business rates, or legislative to require holiday lets to need planning permission for change of use.
Another option would be to allow more homes for rent to be constructed.
The market is of course not simple: there is a range from properties which are solely used as second homes, to those which may be let out for part of the year. The type of property also varies considerably - some are designed for holiday use and would not be suitable as family homes.
Whilst Wiltshire isn't affected in the same way as Cornwall or The Lake District, there does seem to be growth in the local market which is part of the reason the demands of the house-building industry are so strong.
Wiltshire Council hasn't considered this in its local plan review, though to be fair there's probably not much it could do without government action. Whilst the pressure for this may be growing and it has been debated in Parliament there's no sign of activity yet.
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The Liberal Democrats have proposed sharp restrictions on holiday rentals at the heart of the party's plans to solve the housing crisis.
Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron - a former party leader - has led a debate in the House of Commons on what he calls "the housing crisis created by excessive second home ownership."
He presented a seven point plan to limit the number of second homes and make more affordable homes available for local families:
1. Make second homes and holiday lets new and separate categories of planning use. This would mean that councils and national parks would have the power to put a limit on the number of such properties in each town and village, protecting the majority of houses for permanent occupation;
2. Provide targeted, ring fenced finance so that planning departments have the resources to effectively police this new rule;
3. Give councils the power to increase council tax by up to 100 per cent on second homes in the worst affected communities - this would serve to protect those communities and it would also generate revenue that could then be ploughed back into their threatened schools and into new affordable housing for local families;
4. Force all holiday let owners to pay council tax, rather than avoiding paying anything at all if they are deemed a small business;
5. Give councils and national parks the power to ensure that 100 per cent of new builds are genuinely affordable;
6. Ban Section 21 evictions;
7. Ensure that platforms like Airbnb aren't allowed to cut corners and undermine the traditional holiday let industry, and have to meet the same standards as other rentals.
Farron told the Commons: "I have spoken to MPs from rural communities from across this house - most of whom are currently Conservatives - and they all privately agree that this is a catastrophe.
"They see it in their own constituencies. The collapse of affordable, available housing for local communities is killing towns and villages in Cornwall, Northumberland, Shropshire, Devon, Somerset, North Yorkshire, in the Highlands, in rural Wales as well as in Cumbria.
"What our rural communities want from the minister today is two things: a sign that he understands that this catastrophe is actually happening and secondly, a commitment to act and to act right now."