Brexit, a topic at the forefront of everyone’s mind, but with so much up in the air, even the date of leaving isn’t able to be confirmed. With this in mind, it is difficult to say if there will be any change to legislation regarding the letting of properties in the UK.
Any changes to current legislation will have to go through due process of law and whatever legislation is decided will have to contain a degree of alignment with current EU regulations and laws for at least a 2-year transition period.
The gov.uk website currently contains a detailed Brexit guidance page containing information regarding changes and how different industries and infrastructure across the country will be affected once the leaving date is finalised. Currently, however, there are no details regarding any changes to properties and property letting in the UK.
The only information regarding any changes to the property market is in regard to your consumer rights for those buying a timeshare in the EU. For many, this is a suggestion that the laws and regulations around furnished holiday letting are unlikely to change.
Any reference to furnished holiday lets is still detailed on the gov.uk website as a guidance page titled ‘HS253 Furnished Holiday Lettings’. This page was last updated in April 2019 and has no changes to any of the current regulations or laws. Again, with these guidelines being so recently reviewed and updated, it is a promising indication that there are likely to be no sudden changes.
Brexit has caused delays in UK legislation since its inception in October 2016 with almost nothing being delivered in the last 2-3 years because of the time this process has taken. The ongoing proposals to extend Article 50 have in many respects back logged countless legislation that will still have to go through parliament long after Brexit has followed through.
The UK and EU have respectively once again agreed to further delay Brexit until the 31stOctober 2019.
The property rental industry is not something one enters into as a short-term investment, for many it is understandably embarked upon as a long-term source of secured annual income. For those concerned as to whether in these uncertain times it is now worth making this investment, it is safe to say that for the time being, the risk is minimal.
It is the general consensus that the new UK laws will be almost indistinguishable from that of the European Union for a number of years. Even if new laws, regulations etc. were to be considered, as aforementioned, there is already a back log of legislation which will take precedence and years to fulfil. Unless there are any specific pieces of legislation which the UK government is eager to change- which the recent updates to their site would suggest there is not, it is seemingly unlikely that Furnished Holiday Lets will be affected in the foreseeable future.
For more detailed and up to date information regarding Brexit and the changes it will have on the UK, visit www.gov.uk/prepare-eu-exit
