3. What impact will changing the classification of self-catering properties for tax purposes have on residents in communities with increasing amounts of self-catering accommodation? OQ58249

Our changes, which form part of our three-pronged approach, will help strike the right balance between capacity within the self-catering tourism sector, and the economic benefits that brings, and supporting viable communities of local residents to live and work in these areas.

Thank you, Minister. This is really good to hear, because I'm sure you would agree that tourism is vitally important to the Welsh economy, but, of course, with the rapid rise in self-catering units, there is a risk that some towns and villages will cater more to visitors than to residents. This is something that's been raised with me by concerned residents in Llangollen on numerous occasions, where parts of the town—as many as one in five properties—are now advertised as Airbnb self-catering units. Would you agree that we have to ensure that towns and villages across Wales are alive and active 12 months of the year, and can you guarantee that the measures that you have outlined will lead to a careful balance between our interests in driving the visitor economy and the need to ensure that towns and villages are living towns and villages?

Absolutely. This strand of our policy, in terms of addressing the impact that large numbers of second homes and holiday lets can have on some communities in Wales, is about doing exactly that which Ken Skates has described, and that’s creating sustainable communities where people can live year round and where, in winter, you don’t go into those villages and find that lights are off in the majority of those properties.

We know that in Newport, Pembrokeshire, for example, or in Abersoch, 40 per cent of properties there are second homes and holiday lets, and that’s just not a balanced community. So, we absolutely recognise the importance of tourism, but I think that we also need to recognise that sustainable communities are important, and giving those opportunities to people to live in the communities within which they grew up and where they have that attachment, and where they want to work and make a life for themselves.

I think that it’s also worth us reflecting that, where second home owners operate on a very occasional basis, or on a casual basis, within the self-catering sector, then they are actually entering into direct competition with those genuine self-catering businesses. So, that again is an indication that the system as it stands is not in balance, and we are taking, as I say, a number of steps to address this.

Minister, you will be aware that my Welsh Conservative colleagues and I have raised on many occasions our opposition to these changes. One of the reasons why is because of the unintended consequences that might come out as a result of it. I've since been in contact with a number of businesses who have raised serious concerns about some of those unintended consequences of the change. So, can I just ask a couple of questions?

So, for example, how will these days actually be calculated? What happens if businesses—and, unfortunately, this does happen—receive last-minute cancellations? Does that still count towards the quota of 182 days? Also, another concern, as it stands, is that refuse collection payments are payable if the business is on business rates, but what happens if this business is forced back onto council tax? Are they then still liable to pay for refuse collections, or will they see a reimbursement of some of that cost?

Finally, I'd be interested to know of what, if any, impact assessment on the number of projected self-catering properties available in Wales once this change fully takes effect, and if you could share those findings with the Senedd, so that we could have a greater understanding of the impact of those changes.

Thank you for raising this issue. We've shared as much detail as we can in the regulatory impact assessment, which was published alongside the legislation. We've been keen to provide operators with the largest amount of time possible to adapt their business model to address some of their concerns. They've had at least 12 months' notice before these matters come into effect. We will be providing a full FAQ, if you like, for operators, so that they can understand how it might impact on them personally.

But if operators are operating as a business and meet the threshold, they will therefore have all of the responsibilities and the benefits of being treated as a business. If they do not meet that, they will be considered a domestic dwelling for the purposes of council tax, at least. But I'll be happy to set out an FAQ, and, if colleagues have any detailed questions, we will be keen to address them in that.