A Cumbrian MP has met with the Government to discuss the impact of second home ownership in the county.
Tim Farron, who represents Westmorland and Lonsdale, met with Lucy Frazer, financial secretary to the Treasury.
He told her the rise in second home ownership and holiday lets had been catastrophic for local communities and his constituents had told him that private tenants were being evicted from their homes so that landlords may convert the property into a holiday let.
There has been a 32 per cent rise in holiday lets in the South Lakes from June 2020 to June 2021 and housing prices are currently 10 times the average wage in the area of £26,000, he added.
He claimed as individuals were being forced from their homes, the council house waiting list risen by 70 per cent in five years snd local services were being affected as there was little reason to provide efficiency for homes that sit empty for the majority of the year.
Mr Farron proposed to the minister multiple new measures that would counteract these effects and provide resources to maintain local services including a rise in council tax on second homes and to make sure that holiday lets pay full council tax rather than business rates.
Those funds could be used to contribute to the maintenance of local services and to create new, affordable homes, he said.
Afterwards, Mr Farron said: “You know, this is a crisis that has become a catastrophe for my constituents and across the country; 80 per cent of the properties bought in the Lake District in 2020 were second homes.
“The consequences of this are, of course, hitting local people the hardest – young couples are having to decide whether they can afford to try and raise a family in the South Lakes and quite often they can’t.
“This is appalling, as people are already having to tackle the rising costs of living and now must also worry about home security. The fact that tenants are being forced from their homes by landlords so that they can turn an even higher profit with a holiday home is scandalous.
“Local communities are now at risk as if a town is sitting full of empty houses there is no reason for efficient local services such as bus routes, a local shop, and even schools.
“My meeting with the minister allowed me to advocate for my constituents and communities affected by second homes and argue that there should be more restrictions on these houses and that they should be made available for local residents.”
