Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Valuation Office Agency takes to confirm that furnished holiday lets that are registered for business rates meet the requirement for the property to be available for letting for at least 140 days a year.

The VOA uses information provided by the taxpayer to show their intention to let for 140 days. The VOA issues questionnaires to new properties, and where necessary, carries out online searches. Following this, the VOA issues requests for rental information on a targeted basis.

On 23 March, the Government announced that it will legislate to change the criteria determining whether a holiday let is valued for business rates to account for actual days the property was rented. This will ensure that owners of properties cannot reduce their tax liability by declaring that a property is available for let while making little or no actual effort to do so. Further details of the change and implementation will be included in the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) response to the consultation on the business rates treatment of self-catering accommodation which will be published shortly.