Petition to Reverse UK Holiday Let Tax Changes

Holiday Cottage Handbook founder James Varley has launched a petition calling for the government to reverse the abolition of the holiday letting tax regime.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt axed the tax break for short-term letting landlords in the recent Budget 2024.

The move followed years of campaigning by councils claiming a boom in holiday lets, pushing property prices out of the reach of locals and reducing the council tax collected to pay for services.

Holiday Cottage Handbook has gathered support from almost 5,000 people for a petition to reverse the decision to scrap the tax perks for holiday lets.

If the petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the government must explain why they are scrapping holiday let rules, and should the petition garner 100,000 signatures, MPs will debate the topic in Parliament.

Holiday lets no longer taxed as businesses

Varley said: “We believe this move is short-sighted and will do little to solve the UK's housing crisis. Abolishment is likely to hurt local economies and cost jobs in various sectors.

“We are strongly urging the government to reconsider this approach for the sake of tourism across the UK and businesses that rely on tourism.”

Furnished holiday lets are taxed as business rather than investments, which allows owners to offset mortgage interest in full, pay business rates instead of council tax and pay less capital gains tax on disposing of a property.

But the Chancellor has scrapped the rules from April 6, 2025, when holiday lets will have the same tax treatment as buy-to-let homes and other long-term letting property.

Sign the petition to reverse government plans to abolish the furnished holiday lettings tax regime.

Leaseholders want independent regulator

Leaseholders are urging the government to protect them from greedy managing agents, whom they accuse of unfair business practices and unjustified service charge increases.

The petition, which has 227 signatures, accuses managing agents of routinely overcharging leaseholders and calls for the government to set up an independent regulator to monitor the sector.

“This is to protect tenants where service charges increase exponentially, are unsubstantiated and unable to be verified by leaseholders,” said petition sponsor Clare Jeng.

“We believe that there is a widespread problem that certain managing agents may overcharge leaseholders, either due to error or selecting vendors that are not in leaseholders' best interest, or even fraud.”

Sign the petition calling for an independent leasehold sector regulator.

Other property and tax petitions on the Parliament website:

• Abolish inheritance tax or increase tax-free amount - 202 signatures
• Impose caps on annual rent rises and additional taxes on vacant properties - 157 signatures
• Raise the tax-free personal allowance to £16,000 in the next tax year - 148 signatures
• Ban the use of Section 21 evictions by December 2024 - 93 signatures
• Set up a specialist housing court and a statutory housing conciliation service - 92 signatures
• Fully retain the HMRC self-assessment helpline - 90 signatures
• Increase the minimum tax threshold to £15,000 - 84 signatures
• Review all taxes to reduce or abolish taxes where possible - 74 signatures
• Exempt overtime earnings from tax - 73 signatures
• Require annual property inspections for leaseholders and tenants - 59 signatures
• Increase the 40% tax bracket threshold in line with inflation - 54 signatures
• Abolish taxes on the home: Inheritance Tax, Stamp Duty and Capital Gains Tax - 38 signatures
• Require landlords to offer a single-person discount on rent -  37 signatures
• Increase IHT tax-free gift allowance from £3,000 to £9,000 per tax year - 31 signatures
• Allow tenants to end tenancy agreement if a landlord fails to complete repairs - 31 signatures
• Require all landlords/agencies to accept tenants claiming benefits -  25 signatures
• Incentivise landlords not to sell properties & to charge affordable rents - 22 signatures