Second Homes

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 16 October 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 2:02, 16 October 2019

As you know, the non-domestic rating Order specifies the terms you've just described—140 days' availability, 70 days' occupancy—in order to qualify as a self-catering business. And you referred to the gate-keeping role played by the Valuation Office Agency and the documentation they require, and that they'd investigated a few cases referred by Gwynedd. But what tripwire is in place within the system to ensure that the valuation office is routinely investigating and checking at least a sample of claimed self-catering properties to ensure that they are what they claim to be, whilst also recognising that the terms the Welsh Government implemented were a compromise with the industry to protect legitimate businesses?