Holiday Cottages in Wales - 300 Welsh Holiday Cottages - Pemrokeshire to Anglesey
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INDEX - CLICK TO FIND ARTICLE Article 1 - HOLIDAY
PROPERTY PROFIT For a property to give pleasure, to return a fair profit, needs expertise. Property buying is hassle enough. To get a holiday property up and running is an equally challenging project needing time and expertise. Marketing holiday properties is a sophisticated, fiercely competitive industry, of which Wales is a tiny section. So investors are advised to find a Holiday Cottage Agency which has a proven track record in giving holiday property owners’ advice and a continuing service to maximise the property’s profitable return. Quality Cottages have evolved this service over the last 49 years of effort as owners and letting agents at the sharp end of the Tourist Industry. Our sole purpose is the pursuit of excellence to give property owners a fair profit and most importantly locations that maximise capital gains potential. Our holiday property owners don’t work FOR us. We work for THEM. Equally important in a triple partnership are the vital holiday makers. We have over many years helped hundreds of holiday property owners to achieve significant capital appreciation, income and pleasure from their properties. For
effective advice in buying your Welsh holiday cottage contact us at Quality
Cottages. Article 2 - BUYING WELSH HOLIDAY COTTAGES Quality Cottages has nearly 49 years experience in all aspects of this market. Our expertise is available free for any potential buyers. Contact us on our freephone number 0800 007 5299 for personal service from a highly motivated team. We exist to help you avoid pitfalls in what is now a sophisticated, competitive investment market. There are three categories of buyers for Welsh holiday cottages.
Time spent locally on market research and making valuable local contacts should be factored into your budget. Having decided upon an area, you should then contact all the local estate agents. Regarding potential Welsh holiday cottage buying, here are some Golden rules for you.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON BUYING WELSH HOLIDAY COTTAGES You may well be asking “OK Quality Cottages you have been marketing holidays for nearly half a century, what can you offer that other letting agencies do not”? The current house buying frenzy applies to Welsh holiday cottages as much as it does for, e.g. the West Country or Lake District or Cotswolds. Current estimate of second UK home owners is 800,000. Hen’s teeth are plentiful in comparison to finding a derelict barn at a knock down price. Gazumping is the same word in Welsh as it is in English. Buyers who spend time in the area have a huge advantage. In depth research and the resulting local knowledge and contacts cannot be beaten. N.B. Buying for Capital appreciation with the added value of having your own Welsh holiday cottage sounds easy. It is not. An overview of projected income from Quality Cottages ready reckoner income tables can help you decide. All advise, the marketing, brochure design and production, web site, copy writing, photography, booking and collecting of holiday rental income will be handled professionally, and the owner paid monthly for their Welsh holiday cottage or ultimate home to retire to. It has become an exceptionally competitive market requiring very considerable skills especially in search engine usability and optimisation on the web. As ever there is strength in marketing unity as a glance at Quality Cottages’ brochures and web site will amply demonstrate. For
effective advice in buying your Welsh holiday cottage please contact us at Quality
Cottages. Article 3 - WELSH HOLIDAY COTTAGE INVESTMENT After nearly half a century in the Welsh tourist industry we are often the first to know of good holiday Welsh cottage investments. After deciding to sell, cottage owners (many of whom have been with us for years) alert us. Though these are rare events nevertheless retirement, death, divorce or changing financial circumstances do occasionally result in Welsh Holiday properties in our portfolio coming on the market. These will be properties up to our stringent standards and will have proven track records of income. So we can give you an accurate forecast of rental return. We suggest it would be well worth your checking whether any in our portfolio are on the market. We give our free advisory service on ANY property in the Welsh holiday cottage scene anywhere in Wales. We have very experienced staff who cover all Wales including the Borders. From the moment you consider a property, we can advise you and most importantly, spot those often unseen or unmentioned pitfalls. For
effective advice in buying your Welsh holiday cottage please contact us at Quality
Cottages. Index / Top of page - Click Here Article 4 - QUALITY TIME FOR OVER FIFTIES Quality Time for over fifties – the time of your Life. At all ages we hanker for those easeful time capsules called holidays. For those of us of “a certain age” our first priority is a predictable quality holiday. Since 1962 we at Quality Cottages have been constantly researching the market, studying, analysing, computing and researching to create the conditions that make for your ideal holiday. Like bespoke tailors we look for quality, not quantity, in both location and property. As decades come and go our selection standards rise with societies expectations for quality vacations. Every holiday cottage in our brochure has been subjected to a thorough inspection by several of our team. So our holiday properties cater for the comforts and needs of all generations. We have expanded modestly in cottage numbers to retain quality. So you are now at that stage of life when you can afford to choose and have the time to indulge yourselves. So what can your expect from Quality Cottages? * Privacy. All our cottages are in a quality location, with a long track record of well satisfied visitors. * Top rate furnishings and every modern convenience are standard. * The morning bird chorus and farm animals may be the only outside noise you will hear. * 85% of our cottages welcome pets free of charge. * Your pet will have space to play or doze in the sun. * You can be as active or as lazy and relaxed as you wish. * You will normally be near superb walking routes “far from the Madding Crowd” * You will perhaps be near secret coves, and larger clean beaches. Mountain streams, rivers and even remote lakes. * There will be charming villages with a choice of shopping of a variety that will surprise you within easy reach. * Essential services won’t be far away – doctors’ surgeries, dentists, chemists, garages, post offices etc., will be free of city tension and long waits for service. * There is every likelihood that you will return for another holiday. Our statistics show this year upon year. * You will discover charming character pubs, inns and restaurants off the beaten track. * You will be able to adjust your activities to your capabilities. For those who have luckily mellowed like fine wine, ponder the fact that most of Quality Cottages in west and north Wales are near the seas where the returning dolphins now play. The ancient Greeks believed that dolphins brought happiness to humans. We hope this to be true in our Quality Cottages too. For
effective advice in buying your Welsh holiday cottage please contact us at Quality
Cottages. Index / Top of page - Click Here Article 5 - BUYING FOR INCOME AND EVENTUAL RETIREMENT Buying for income and eventual retirement We all work for Quality of life. At no stage is it more important than at retirement. Buying the right home to retire to is probably as crucial a decision as any you will make in your life. Over the last 49 years Quality Cottages have seen many hundreds of couples, who have stayed regularly with Quality Cottages, decide to retire to Wales. The fruit of years of hard work to make a dream come true. So our observations are directed to help those planning this decisive step. The first essential is a reality check. People usually choose an area which they know from happy family holidays usually in good weather. It will not be the same when you spend 365 days a year there. For a start the weather will be different on the Welsh coast because of the warmth of the Gulf Stream. Milder winters and early springs will be a welcome surprise. This is balanced by sea winds and some gales and higher rainfall especially the further inland you go. But a small price to pay in comparison with the bitter cold of say, East Anglia or the frozen north. Frosts on the Welsh coast are rare even before the implications of global warming. As retirement beckons and city life becomes beset with overcrowding, traffic pressures, rising crime and stealth taxes “getting away from it all” becomes urgent for many. No longer a pipe dream, it becomes a retirement priority. We have found the most successful retirement often started with buying a quality holiday home. Using it for the owner's holidays, but also getting an income which virtually gives free holidays as well as possibly paying the mortgage where necessary. Then comes the BIG decision, transforming the holiday cottage into the retirement home. Decision made, the permanent home is sold. Usually enough to pay off any holiday cottage mortgage and leaving a substantial (tax free) nest egg capital sum giving virtually another pension.
To be certain of making the right choice we suggest,
We at Quality Cottages hope these hints will be useful in your deliberations on retiring to a Welsh Holiday cottage. We are only a phone call away for any queries you may have. We exist not only to let top quality Welsh cottage holidays. But also to give Quality advice on that crucial step of selecting an ideal property for both holiday rental as well as retirement. Our office is always open for a personal face to face meeting to discuss one of life’s most important decisions. For
effective advice in buying your Welsh holiday cottage please contact us at Quality
Cottages. Index / Top of page - Click Here Article 6 - PETS PETS FACT. 72% of holiday cottage visitors bring pets. Quite obviously they can only choose holiday cottages which accept them - 85% of them do. The British are a nation of animal lovers. For many the devotion to their animals is as strong as the importance of a holiday. Boarding kennels for dogs are expensive and the quality of care is unpredictable. When flicking through a holiday cottage brochure many dog owners seeing a property where it says “No pets” will instantly turn the page. Over the years we have a higher occupancy rate by catering for pet owners. What is more we achieve a higher tariff, longer season, more repeat business and effectively higher gross income. The dogs, coming from mainly suburban areas are usually well trained and being used to a fairly restricted discipline. We warn the guests about keeping their dogs away from sheep and cattle, and to keep them under control whilst on the coastal path, or beaches where children play. (See our Booking Conditions re Pets) Over the years I found that by not discouraging holiday makers’ life style our holiday cottages have more repeat business, and estimate at least 15% to 30% more income than restricted properties. Those are the facts gained from experience. As always though, with Quality Cottages our owners always make the final decision. For
effective advice in buying your Welsh holiday cottage please contact us at Quality
Cottages. Index / Top of page - Click Here Article 7 - Some Pembrokeshire Promises and Places. The county’s Welsh name is Penfro meaning Land’s End. Though it is the start of an adventure of exploration, its coast is washed on three sides by the warming Gulf Stream. Sea breezes from the Atlantic help keep bracing air unpolluted, relaxing yet invigorating. The peninsula is the only Coastal National Park in the UK and is girdled by 186 miles of a coastal path. No other county has more E.C. Beach Awards, 11 Blue Flags, 32 Seaside Awards and 14 Green Coast Awards. You are never more than 9 miles away from the sea here, so no wonder visitors are attracted to the huge choice of beaches. Some are expanses long enough to have had horse racing in the past, there are countless small coves, secluded haunts where smugglers have landed ever since excise taxes were levied and even German submarines during World War II Out in the great ocean, islands and rocky outcrops stand like lonely sentinels – the 8 Bishops and Clerks known to the Romans simply as ‘the perils’ off St. Davids near where countless ship wrecks lie in the deep, further out are Skomer, Skokholm, Caldey, Ramsey and Grassholm. Most can be visited by boat each being an adventure in its own right. Many of Quality Cottages visitors are attracted not only to the sea, the islands, the dolphins, seals and the occasional basking shark but also to the inland waterways. The estuary at Milford Haven meanders up the tidal river to Haverfordwest, a county town and port. The inland reservoirs at Llys y Fran and Rosebush are havens of tranquillity and beauty. Pembrokeshire hills are interlaced with countless tiny streams, brooks, tumbling and trickling towards the sea. Languid rivers, the Daugleddau and Gwaun and Nyfer join the watery procession to the sea. Pembrokeshire is divided by the Landsker Line, a natural division but formalized by the Normans with a line of forbidding castles. The south is now known as “Little England beyond Wales”. In proportion to its land mass, Pembrokeshire is sparsely populated with the majority being in the south. To explore the county or just laze the days away the first priority is a firm base, the more comfortable and private the better, which is what Quality Cottages is about. The founding of Quality Cottages was a significant moment in the county’s history of tourism. Prior to the founding of the company in 1962, Pembrokeshire had long been a veiled secret in the back of beyond. A few cognoscenti found their way there in Georgian and Victorian times and built holiday homes on the coast at harbour towns such as Tenby and Newport. In the 1800’s, tours of Wales became popular with famous artists whose paintings encouraged visitors who appreciated the unspoilt pastoral settings. Then the 20’s and 30’s brought more adventurous spirits who sought farmhouse accommodation. The area exerted a strong pull on families for holidays and this has passed down the generations. Leonard Rees is from a local farming family who had farmed in Pembrokeshire for hundreds of years. He saw that the holiday cottage industry had potential but needed a professional structured organisation to nurture it. As a pioneer of self catering in the tourist industry, he embarked on a one-man, methodical meticulous market research on his own in the late 1950’s and 60’s. He started his holiday cottage enterprise in 1962 - seven years before even the Wales Tourist Board came into being – eventually becoming a letting agent. Leonard Rees then proceeded to put his money where his researches led him, converting his family farm barns and stables into holiday cottages. His was probably the first ALL Wales holiday cottage agency. Since that time in 1962, he has constantly, industriously, followed the marketing trend, updating and catering to new demands as they emerge. Nearly 50 years later he is still relishing the business, his enthusiasm as undiminished as it was when he started the company. No longer working alone but with a skilled team of around 30 and every up-to-date tool of marketing on a scale unimaginable when he followed his instincts to take a great gamble back in the early 1960’s. He has never wavered from his insistence on accepting only the very best holiday properties available. The company is entirely Welsh based, poised to take
advantage of every nuance of visitors’ needs which change as each season passes. The
relativly small size of the company is such that there is always ‘close on the
ground contact’ with holiday-makers and owners. It’s not
the size that matters to the Agency, its the Quality. Consistent heavy
bookings are the end result, quite impossible without contented, oft
returning visitors. Impressively the firm won the first Gold Tourist
Award for services to the self catering industry. Index / Top of page - Click Here Article 8 - A few Pembrokeshire Charms – A Brief Travelogue Pembrokeshire has some 1500 miles of roads, lanes and byways – ample for visitors and their cars and 186 miles of National Park Coastal Path. Most importantly there is virtually no congested traffic queues at beaches and popular beauty spots. A haven of easy motoring in such contrast with Cornwall, the West Country and the Lake District; a treasure trove of natural unspoiled beauty - primarily due to a very thinly populated landscape and rigorous planing restictions on major development over the last 50yrs. Here are some of the gems where a visit will leave you with some golden holiday memories from the north of the county. All are near or on the Coastal path. As good a start as any is to slip through St.Davids, the fabled Cathedral being well worth visiting en route, to St. Justinian’s Life Boat Station where you can look over the rippling tidal currents of Jack Sound to Ramsey Island. The sunsets there will flame into an unforgettable memory. A short drive will take you for a stroll on the vast golden-sanded Whitesands Bay. As you proceed north along the coastal lanes and little roads bear in mind there are bay after bay of tiny coves where, if you walk, you can look down from the cliffs and see seals. Further out you may be lucky enough to spot a pod of dolphins as well. You will be enticed along the coast to little villages and ports. Abereiddy with its wonderful Blue Lagoon. Porthgain as tiny and picturesque a port as you can imagine has the Sloop Pub and restaurant, one of West Wales’s most atmospheric eating places. Abercastle some 3 miles on is another ‘must visit’, a tiny port since Roman times with its little island at the entrance. On then to Abermawr near the woollen mill, when winter gales pound its beaches huge boulders are rolled in the bay. Here the winter gales washed the coast road away a century ago never to be replaced and where even Brunel's plans were defeated by the Irish Potato Famine. On this coast where the cliff paths are alive with a huge variety of wild flowers, you will always be overlooked by some stone-age cromlech, burial site or fort. The coast will unfold not only its majestic natural beauty but modern amenities, country pubs, the odd café and little villages all will be within easy reach. You will also walk some of Pembrokeshire’s highest cliffs where bird life thrives, choughs, puffins and magnificent birds of prey. You can see the stately ferrys from Ireland heading to Fishguard harbour. It’s well worth going to Strumble Head where the lighthouse watches the stretching sea to Ireland. Actually, on a clear day you can see the Wicklow Hills in Ireland, purple outlines against the sky to remind us all of the Celtic connection. This is the briefest of travelogues, it only takes
in some 12 miles of Pembrokeshire’s coastline. There is still
another 170 miles of drama, tranquillity and beauty to discover. ‘Quality’ Indefinable but instantly recognisable. Our most treasured asset is not the properties we manage. It is our reputation. It has taken nearly half a century to build up; we do not intend to lose it. We take a lasting pride, and endless pains to make the Quality Cottage liaison between ourselves, our owners and our holiday makers a lasting mutual benefit. Our client service is instant, personal and reliable. There are prime areas in Wales where we have an enviable track record of holiday property lettings. If you have a holiday property or area contemplating purchasing - please contact us, we will visit you, (without obligation), and advise you on a mutually beneficial way forward. Check-list to identify best Quality Cottage locations N.B. Other profitable locations are in National Trust areas, property near harbours, on riverbanks or lakesides and of course within our three Welsh National Parks. You will find a friendly welcome if you call at our office, from a small, but utterly dedicated team, keen to give you “Quality Cottage” advice, or we will gladly meet you, at your property, entirely without obligation. For further information: Index / Top of page - Click Here TAXATION AND THE LETTING BUSINESS A Brief Guide Prepared 10th May 2011. THE HISTORICAL POSITION Properties that met the qualifying tests for Furnished Holiday lettings offered owners substantial tax advantages for Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax. These tax advantages may not be available for other residential lettings. The Taxes Act 1988 defined the qualifying conditions for a property to be treated as a furnished holiday letting. Basically, the property must be situated in the United Kingdom or the EEA and be : INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS Furnished holiday lettings had some income tax advantages over other residential lettings as under : Relief for losses. – If your tax allowable expenses exceed the income from your holiday letting then you will be able to offset the loss against any of your other income in the same year. In addition, if losses are suffered in the first four years after the start of the rental business, then that loss may be set against any income of the three tax years before the year of the loss. If you are a 40% taxpayer and you suffer a trading loss of say £1,000 from you furnished holiday lettings, you will be entitled to a tax refund of £400. For other types of let property, you can only offset letting losses against letting profits of the same year. Otherwise any net loss can only be carried forward and set off against any future letting profits. Capital allowances may be claimed on furniture in the let property as well as on plant and machinery used outside the property (such as equipment). No claim for capital allowances is possible in respect of property that does not qualify as a furnished letting although it is possible to claim an annual deduction equal to 10% of the rent received (net of rates charges) CAPITAL GAINS TAX CONSIDERATIONSAs far as capital gains tax is concerned, the commercial letting of holiday accommodation confers the availability of certain reliefs. The main reliefs are shown below : In the past, HMRC have taken the view that Business Property Relief would be available where : The lettings are Short Term (for example weekly or fortnightly) and The owner, either himself or through an agent such as a relative or housekeeper, is substantially involved with the holidaymakers in terms of their activities on and from the premises HMRC have now indicated that recent advice from the Solicitor’s office has caused them to reconsider the above approach and it may be that some cases that might have previously qualified for Business Property Relief should not have done so. In particular, HMRC have indicated that they may look more closely at the level and type of services, rather than who provided them. It appears therefore that HMRC will look very carefully upon the level of services being provided in connection with the Holiday letting. Merely providing accommodation may not be sufficient to qualify the property for Business Property Relief. Effectively, the closer the operation of the property as a Hotel, the greater the likelihood that 100% Business Property Relief will apply. The ownership of property for long term residential lettings is considered to be the holding of an investment, and will not therefore qualify for any Business Property Relief
FINANCE ACT 2011 CHANGES The Draft Finance Bill for 2011 which is expected to be given Royal Assent in July 2011 provides a substantial restriction in the Income Tax provisions of Furnished Holiday Lettings. The main effect is that with effect from 6th April 2011, losses made in a qualifying UK or EEA furnished holiday lettings business may only be set against income from the same furnished holiday lettings business. It will not, in future be possible to offset trading losses sustained in a Holiday Letting trade against the taxpayers other income. The ‘relief for Losses’ benefits recorded under the heading of ‘Income Tax Considerations’ above will no longer apply. CHANGES TO BE INTRODUCED ON 6th APRIL 2012
The effect of a property not qualifying in any particular tax year will have little bearing upon the income tax position, but could well have a significant detrimental effect upon the capital gains tax position as a consequence of the loss of the valuable entrepreneurs relief. WORD OF CAUTION - VALUE ADDED TAXOwners should be aware that the provision of furnished holiday accommodation is a supply that VAT at the standard rate applies. Whether or not VAT will actually need to be declared is dependent upon the business constitution and the level of turnover. DISCLAIMERAshmole & Co does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the handout material and in no circumstances shall Ashmole & Co be liable to any loss or damage suffered as a result of relying on it. For further information: Index / Top of page - Click Here |
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