Southwold short term lets

  Introduction of use class for short term lets

Southwold short term lets

 

Government wants to control residents rights to rent out their homes (eg short term holiday lets).  They think that this will 

• help sustainability of communities by discouraging holiday lets,
  
• make homes for local people more available and affordable (what?  How is any home going to be affordable in Southwold?) .

 Really this is just a distraction from the real solution which is to build more homes and perhaps a Travel lodge near Southwold (Tie in with Lattitude and seasonal tourism).   

 

Imposing new rules and compelling short term holiday rentals to apply for planning permission won't help carers and cleaners , waiters or tradespeople.  Locals still won't be able to afford that £0.33 Million quid (or more) home on the  Southwold  side of Mights Bridge.   Money that the District Council makes on planning fees will most likely be swallowed up by the need for extra hard-to-find planning dept staff. 

Big Brother in Southwold

 

New requirements from April 2023

 Business rates - properties must be available to let for min 140days in the previous & current years and actually let for 70days in the past year. 

Furnished holiday lets - To qualify for a more generous income tax regime,  HMRC says properties must be available for commercial let for at least 210 days, and actually let for 105 days of the year. 

Planning background

 It is likely that any renting out of whole or part of your main home or property will be considered as  a "Material change of use" requiring you to pay a fee and ask for planning permission from East Suffolk District Council (exception seems to be a lodger in your main home).

The Government is going use the planning system to require homeowners to register with East Suffolk District Council if they want to short term let their homes in any way.  They will be categorised and added to the "Use class" system .  Many people will move from Class C3 (normal dwelling) to C5 (short term let). Short term let would be defined as :

• "A dwelling that isn't your sole or main residence, for temporary sleeping accommodation, for the purpose of holiday, leisure, recreation, business or other travel."  

Even if full planning permission is not required, you will still need a Certificate of Lawfulness .

There are exceptions to "material change of use"  rules which are known as "Permitted Development Rights" (PDR's) .  These may include eg AirBnB of your home for a few nights.  East Suffolk Council may remove PDR's by making an Article 4 Direction under para 53 of the National Planning Policy Framework.  

 In plain English 

Under Government proposals , using the planning system , East Suffolk Council would be able to shut down holiday lets , Air BnB, renting out your home etc on a street by street basis 

Any new build homes could have a class of use condition imposed meaning that they may not be rented out at all, or possibly only for a limited number of nights per year.

Consultation

Have you say by completing the online survey . The Government consultation runs from 12 April 2023 to 7 June 2023.   

Online survey consultation

 

Many articles on this matter were reported in the press including The Telegraph.