With living and working in a seaside town in Wales, over summer, Easter, or any sunny weekend, it is booming with tourists. On the downside, it causes so much traffic, and it is near enough impossible to find any parking. However, it really helps with all the local businesses including the shops, pubs and restaurants. You’ll find that some businesses even rely on the holidaymakers for the majority of their income! 

I find with working in property, we get a lot of eager landlords looking to expand their market into holiday lets. The questions that I always get asked is whether there are any restrictions on holiday lets and what you need to get started. 

There aren't many regulations to holiday letting – or not as many as there are with renting! You don’t need a license like Rent Smart Wales or HMO. However, you do still need all your safety certificates i.e., gas safety, PAT test, and electrical installation report. New regulations in Wales requires self-catering accommodation to be available for holiday letting for at least 252 days per year, where as it used to be only 140. These were altered just last month in April 2023. Also, to qualify for business rates (instead of council tax), you will now need to have your holiday home filled for a minimum of 182 days per year, up from 70.  

In 2022, Airbnb had 21,718 holiday listings, a massive increase from only 13,800 in 2018. Wales have been cracking down on the rise of holiday lets through adjustments in council tax premiums. Across most of Wales, the premium is 50% extra council tax, however in Ceredigion it is only 25%. With new regulations, councils within the Wales are able to increase their premiums to 300%.

Although there is controversy in holiday letting in Aberystwyth, we have to look at the advantages. Holiday lets help small businesses in the area as it brings in many people across the nation who are willing to spend their money whilst they are on their holidays. It can also help with the locals that choose to host holiday homes as it can be some people’s main income or pension. It is a super profitable industry – if done correctly and managed well! One useful site and helpful service is holidaycottages.co.uk, I have linked them here.

I recently used holidaycottages.co.uk to book a weekend away and it was so smooth, easy and the property was stunning! They cover most of the UK, do all types of management and open to talking with anyone about any query.  

The increase in holiday letting and short term rentals has had a major impact on the housing industry. I found an interesting article by Propertymark that looks into this further, this is linked here. They found that it has negatively affected the rental market as there is now less supply to meet the demand, causing rents to significantly rise. Although, it was also told that this trend has not had much of an effect on the property sales industry.  

These affects mentioned do not mention the other reasons that rental prices have increased, and supply has decreased. It does not consider the other causes of this like the stricter regulations on renting and the rises in mortgages. There are so many things to consider when looking to start holiday letting – it is a new subject for myself but something I wish to get into as I do believe that it is an investment. With the right knowledge, you can become extremely successful in this industry – as well as the property industry. 

If you enjoyed this read and would like to delve deeper into the holiday letting world, please comment your thoughts.