Since April 2023, self-catering properties must be available for 252 days and actually let for 182 days each year to pay non-domestic rates instead of council tax. The rules were brought in to ensure property owners make a fair contribution to their local community.

The Welsh Government is seeking views on 2 key changes to the way the rules are applied, to give the sector extra stability:

• Allowing holiday let owners to use an average of 182 days let over several years. This means those who narrowly miss 182 days letting in the latest year would remain on non-domestic rates if they had achieved it on average over 2 or 3 previous years.
• Allowing up to 14 days of free holidays donated to charity to count towards the 182-day target.

The consultation also asks whether councils should consider giving businesses more time to adjust, such as a 12-month grace period before they may have to pay higher council tax rates when they move from non-domestic to domestic classification.

The consultation can be found at Proposed refinements to the classification of self-catering properties for local tax purposes | GOV.WALES

Closing date for responses is 20 November 2025.

The ECB produce Standards and guidance for ECB accredited enforcement firms and those who work for them. They published their first Standards for Enforcement Firms and Agents in October 2024, which you can view here:

Standards – enforcementconductboard

They are now consulting on additional Standards, addressing vulnerability and ability to pay. At their core, these draft Standards aim to do two things:

• improve the way that enforcement firms and agents identify and respond to vulnerable people, and
• increase the use of sustainable payment arrangements for people who can’t pay their debt in full immediately

The consultation could be found at Vulnerability and Ability to Pay Standards - enforcementconductboard

The deadline for responses is 31 October 2025.