Estate agents have warned of economic hurt from proposals that would mean second-home owners need planning permission to let out holiday properties.
The government wants its initiative to give councils the power to ban future holiday lets if the area has too little affordable housing to rent or buy.
But some real estate players have said the move is unlikely to reduce house prices in tourist hotspots or encourage second-home owners to sell.
“It doesn’t matter how you change the planning laws, there will be someone who is willing to pay more money than the locals in order to secure a prime property,” said Christopher Bailey, partner at Knight Frank.
Tim Thomas of Propertymark, a trade body for estate agents, said charges for owners to have their properties on the necessary register could be as much as £1,000 a year.
Thomas said: “To charge that on an annual basis is a lot of money. You might get a postcode lottery, too. In London, you’d expect the fee to be greater than elsewhere. And it would also depend on the local authorities’ resources to collect the fee annually.”
The consultation on the proposals runs until June.
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