Agents should expect the wick to be turned up on the old chestnut of holiday homes with the news that veteran actress Penelope Keith is to front a three-part documentary on the effects of such properties on rural Britain.
The actress, best remembered for her role in BBC sitcoms To The Manor Born and The Good Life, will look at how rural communities are surviving in an increasingly urban-centric society - and will concentrate on the effects of second homes.
The series, to be shown on More 4 later in the autumn, comes as Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George - a long-time opponent of second homes - has repeated his call for the government to address tax loopholes which he says are exploited by second home owners.
Local estate agencies often show that four times more local homes are sold to second home buyers as to first time buyers. I have long argued for a planning regulation to cap the number of second homes but both Labour and Conservative Ministers have thwarted my efforts.so far says the MP, who represents St Ives.
George says that since entering Parliament in 1997 he had been something of a sole voice in identifying council tax concessions which then existed for second home owners.
And they [second home owners] could rake in money from letting them to the holiday trade for up to 120 nights a year. Or they could get their tax lawyers onto it and switch to Business Rates for tax deduction purposes. In recent years there's been an added loophole of small business rate relief which entitles many to pay nothing he says.
This cannot and should not go on. This is not the politics of envy but a simple case of achieving basic justice and fair treatment for all says George.
However, as Estate Agent Today reported earlier this month, George decided to drop his bid to cap the number of second homes in key holiday areas of the UK because his proposals did not win support of enough Conservative or Labour members of parliament.
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