CLA abhors hidden attack on UK tourism

Rural economy experts the CLA today said it was appalled by the proposed removal of trading status for UK furnished holiday lettings which could cost the tourism industry millions of pounds.

Buried deep in the detail of the Budget on the HMRC website is the bombshell that from the 2010-11 tax year the special tax privileges designed to encourage landlords to provide furnished holiday lodgings will be scrapped.

CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: "This destroys a political consensus that has existed since 1983 that it was right to make UK property available to holiday-makers.

"You would have expected such a major tax change to have deserved an explanation in Mr Darling’s Budget speech."

Favourable tax rules currently apply to furnished holiday accommodation, which is the letting of lodgings in the UK for short periods. To qualify for this treatment, the property must be let for 10 weeks of the year, available for letting for 20 weeks of the year and not normally let for more than 31 days to the same person.

The rules were first introduced in 1983 to boost the provision of accommodation and tourism in the UK.

Here is the link to the details of the change on the HMRC website:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2009/furnished-hol-lets-1015.pdf