The Welsh Government are seeking views on draft Regulations on Council Tax for HMOs in Wales.

They are consulting on draft Regulations:

• to ensure HMOs are banded as a single property with 1 Council Tax band
• to ensure the HMO owner remains liable for Council Tax.

To achieve this, they are proposing to disapply the Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings) Order 1992 and the Council Tax (Liability for Owners) Regulations 1992 in relation to Wales and make the Council Tax (Chargeable dwellings) (Wales) Regulations 2025 and the Council Tax (Liability for Owners) (Wales) Regulations 2025.

The new Regulations would replicate the existing provisions and include new provisions so that HMO properties are aggregated and treated as a single dwelling for Council Tax purposes. The Regulations would also expand the prescribed class of HMO for which the owner is responsible for paying Council Tax. Regulation 4 of the Council Tax (Liability for Owners) (Wales) Regulations 2025 transfers the liability to pay Council Tax to the person who has the most inferior interest (whether freehold or leasehold) in the whole of the dwelling or, where there is no such person, the freeholder of the whole or any part of the dwelling, rather than to the owner.

The consultation can be found at https://www.gov.wales/valuation-houses-multiple-occupation-hmos-council-tax.

Closing date for responses is 26 November 2024.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language, Mark Drakeford MS, has launched a consultation on the Welsh Government’s proposal to withdraw charitable non-domestic rates relief from private schools, from 1 April 2025. In Wales, private schools are registered as ‘independent schools’.

The consultation sets out the Welsh Government’s proposal and asks for views.

The consultation could be found at https://www.gov.wales/charitable-non-domestic-rates-relief-private-schools

The deadline for responses is 16 December 2024.

The Law Commission’s first Consultation Paper on “Business Tenancies: the right to renew” was published on 19 November. Publication marks the beginning of a 3-month consultation period, ending on 19 February 2025.

Their Business Tenancies project is a review of the 1954 Act. The Act gives business tenants a legal right to another tenancy when their existing tenancy comes to an end (a right known as “security of tenure”), subject to the landlord’s ability to oppose another tenancy in certain circumstances.

The Consultation Paper asks key questions about the possible options to reform the 1954 Act. In particular, they consider the pros and cons of the current “contracting-out” model of security of tenure and consider three alternative models: mandatory security of tenure, abolition of security of tenure and a “contracting-in” model. They seek consultees’ views on which model they prefer. They also seek views on whether or not the types of business tenancy which can benefit from security of tenure – the Act’s scope – are the right ones.

After they have analysed all the responses to our first Consultation Paper and reached conclusions on the issues it raises, they will then expect to publish a second, technical Consultation Paper.

Alongside the Consultation Paper, they published a short survey on the impact of Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (“the 1954 Act”) on the current commercial leasehold market.

The consultation can be found here. The survey can be found here.

The deadline for responses is 19 February 2025.