Stamp duty cut criticised by South Lakes MP

On the floor of the House of Commons, local MP Tim Farron told ministers that a new tax break for second homeowners is ‘an insult’ for communities in the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

New measures announced in the Chancellor’s ‘mini-budget’ last week mean that people looking to buy a second home will now only have to pay stamp duty at three per cent on a property worth up to £500,000.

This a significant tax cut from the eight per cent stamp duty that second homeowners had to previously pay on a property which cost £250,000 and up - potentially saving them thousands of pounds.

Speaking during the second reading of the Stamp Duty Land Tax Bill, Mr Farron said: “As somebody who lives among these communities, I cannot deny the evidence of my eyes, which is that excessive second home ownership kills communities.

“When 50 per cent of the homes in Coniston are not lived in all year round, of course that is one of the reasons why the schools in that community do not have the numbers they would otherwise, of course it is a reason why bus services struggle, and of course it is a reason why shops, post offices and others shut.

“That is why this boon and bonus to second home owners is an insult to people in the Lakes and the Dales - the local people struggling to get by there - and why this should be an opportunity not to give these people an additional incentive to take homes out of the local market, but to tackle the incentives that currently exist.”

This is not the first time Mr Farron has targeted the issue around second homeowners in his Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency as back in April he wrote to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, urging him to close a tax loophole which is allowing second home owners to claim millions of pounds from the fund meant for struggling small businesses.

The loophole allowed second homes owners to get away with paying no council tax whatsoever by pretending to be a holiday let.