A couple who quit the rat race for an idyllic rural existence renting small cottages to holiday makers in Wales say they could be forced out of business by a government tax raid on second home owners that shouldnt apply to them.
Paul and Sophie Frampton sold their home in England and gave up their jobs to buy a rural property close to three converted outbuildings in West Wales that they rent out to tourists.
But the couple say they could now be forced to sell up after their trio of holiday cottages were slapped with a back-dated tax demand for £8,000 last week.
Sophie said: This is not just a property, its our life. It will break my heart if we have to leave.
The news that turned their world upside down came last week when Paul received a letter from the Valuation Office Agency informing him that their business, Crug Yr Eryr Isaf Holiday Cottages, in Talgarreg, Ceredigion, had been switched to domestic council tax rates 19 months earlier.
Paul and Sophie Frampton sold their home in England and gave up their jobs to buy a rural property close to three converted outbuildings in West Wales that they rent out to tourists - but they could be forced to sell after a hefty tax demand
Their trio of holiday cottages have been slapped with a back-dated tax demand for £8,000
The couple were shocked to discover that the Valuation Office Agency had switched their holiday lets to domestic council tax rates 19 months earlier
The lounge area inside one of the holiday lets, which have now been calculated at domestic rather than business rates
Sophie said: This is not just a property, its our life. It will break my heart if we have to leave
A new assessment of the way business rates were calculated means they will have to pay around £150 per month, per cottage, meaning £450 altogether at domestic rates.
This is instead of £54 a month, for all three, on the previous business rate they paid.
Stringent new rules - intended to reduce the number of second home owners driving up property prices - mean each cottage has to be separately rented a minimum 182 nights a year to qualify for cheaper business rates, up from a previous 120, a level the business managed to reach.
With an extra £400 a month to pay going forward, and almost £8,000 in newly assessed back taxes, the couple say their dream rural existence is under serious threat.
Paul, 55, who also runs a custom-built furniture business, and Sophie, 51, a former drama teacher, are now wondering if they will have to give up their dream.
The strategy follows years of complaints that young people were being driven out of areas where they had grown up because of sky high property prices.
Empty-home syndrome can blight rural areas, ripping the heart out of communities and creating ghost villages.
With the forced exodus of the next generation, schools close, pubs shut down and community centres lose viability.
Villages can end up looking like rural retirement homes.
But, Paul added, the latest change, put into effect by the Valuation Office Agency, was hitting the very businesses helping to underpin economically fragile rural communities.
The legislation, what they are trying to do, has got my full support, but I dont think that it has been done well, he said.
When I got this letter I couldnt believe it. I had to have a sit down. I eventually called and spoke to somebody at Ceredigion Council. They told me to wait until the full demand had been calculated and then get back in touch.
It didnt seem too positive. They dont have any power to change this, it comes from the Valuation Office Agency.
The couple maintain these cottages are not second properties, they are converted farm outbuildings Pictured: Inside one of the holiday let kitchens
Im just hoping they have some flexibility, and give us a chance to argue our case.
Theres nothing we can do now but wait until the council tax demand comes.
Paull added: I know there will be people who look at us and say how bloody lucky we are to be here and have the life we have.
But it doesnt happen by itself. You have to work, pay the bills, clean, maintain, look after it all.
Weve put central heating into the cottages. Renovated them. Put in so much effort. We havent had a holiday since weve been here.
The couple have also been looking after rare pig breeds on their estate
Keeping it going is a full-time job seven days a week. We only take Christmas off. Thats it.
Now, suddenly, the government wants a bigger piece of the cake. But the cake isnt getting bigger, just the reverse, in fact.
He added: These cottages are not second properties. They are converted farm outbuildings.
The planning permission for them was only ever or holiday lets and they are literally in our garden - they can only be accessed by walking right past our living room.
Previous owners turned these disused buildings into holiday lets at a time when the Welsh government was encouraging farmers to do this to bring money in.
Now theyre acting in a way to force the same businesses out. They are not second homes and could never be used as such - and they wouldnt make homes for local people as they dont have the right profile.
You wouldnt be able to sell or rent them as residences - so its a nonsense to target them.
The couple married in 2018, and spent their honeymoon in the area where they now live.
Paul said: I suppose we both wanted something more. To avoid a 30-minute commute to Tesco, which was only half a mile away from where we lived.
We came here and fell in love with the area. Ended up selling our three-bedroom semi in Salisbury, which had a small front and back garden, and buying this rambling place in March 2021, said Paul.
After clinching a mortgage for the holiday cottages, a former derelict stable block, and the run-down central farmhouse, in several acres, they ended up paying £100,000 more than the £380,000 they got for their semi.
His business, which had a workshop overlooking Stonehenge, transferred to a now partially renovated cow shed, and employs several local people as craftsmen making bespoke furniture.
In little more than three years, they have transformed it all into a thriving rural business, with an organic vegetable garden, an orchard, and given sanctuary to a menagerie of rescued donkeys, rare pig breeds, cats, dogs and chickens.
One of the rescued donkeys that the couple look after at their thriving rural business
In little more than three years, they have transformed the land into a thriving rural business
Their plot of land in West Wales also features a quaint organic vegetable garden
A solar kiln is being built to dry out local wood-fall, to be fed into the furniture business, and the thriving cottage business attracts a high number of satisfied return guests, and five-star reviews.
All of that, the community jobs, and the tourists the cottages attract to the area, is now in jeopardy.
We love it here, said Sophie. It feels like home. This is where I want to be buried. In one of our fields, here.
But the idea now is that weve got to think really hard whether were going to sell up, or not. How long is it going to be possible for us to keep striving away just to be hit by more unforeseen bills - out of the blue.
We might just have to say, sod this.
Paul, who is habitually in his workshop at 4am, shakes his head resignedly as Sophie speaks.
What I dont understand is how the Government can just decide, apparently on a whim, that the cottages are now residential properties, subject to council tax, not a business, at all. Apparently.
These are not second homes. Theyre too small to be anybodys home. They are ideal as a pleasant rural base for tourists exploring this beautiful countryside.
Driving us out of business is to nobodys benefit. If we sell up and leave the council will end up with less than they are getting now. Its very worrying and frustrating.
Were not by the sea or up a mountain, people come here to experience the community, the rural tranquillity and to explore the area. The cottages are an ideal base.
Theres simply not enough demand to fill each cottage for a minimum 182 days a year. Changing the rules and then telling us we are no longer a business seems insane.
Its like running a flower shop and suddenly being told that because you are not selling enough flowers you are no longer a florist.
I dont know whats going on. Is it just a scam to get more money out of people?
Sophie adds: If so, its not working. I was speaking to someone at the local feed store the other day who said scores of people who have moved to the area, like us, and whove helped underpin the local economy, have been forced to sell up and leave because of this.
That doesnt help the local council, because theyre no longer here to pay anything.
Paul said that, like many in Wales, he supports councils which had moved over the last few years to put up council tax rates for long term empty and second homes.
Paul maintains their holiday lets are ideal as a pleasant rural base for tourists - but they are not second homes
The couple fear their time, money and effort to turn the stable block into high quality tourist accommodation will effectively have been wasted if they have to sell up
Pauls business employs several local people as craftsmen making bespoke furniture
He said one scenario that they were looking at potentially as a way of staying put, was to close two of the cottages and use them for something else instead.
It might be possible to let one as a rural office. Somewhere someone could use for work. I could also convert one to a showroom for my furniture business.
That way, at least, it might be possible to let one of the cottages for the requisite 182 days, to keep qualifying for business rates.
If that is what theyre forced to do to keep going, however, the time, money and effort to turn the stable block into high quality tourist accommodation, which was water damaged and had creeper growing on interior walls when they took it all on, would effectively have been wasted.
Blood sweat and tears, said Sophie. Thats what weve put into this.
Paul works so hard, we both do, to keep things going, and a letter like this coming from nowhere could push some people over the edge. Give them a heart attack. You invest your whole life into something like this. Its not just money.
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has been approached for comment.
The official GOV.UK website has an exhaustive online section dealing with VOA-related issues.
It offers advice about business rates in England and Wales, how they are calculated, and what the eligibility criteria are.
It also highlights details of the recent business rate revaluation criteria, which came into effect on April 1st 2023, with which Paul and Sophie Frampton, and many others, have been hit.
The site includes a link for small businesses in Wales to check eligibility for rate relief.
An information section for self-catering and holiday-let accommodation in England and Wales is also available.
It highlights an appeal procedure which is ultimately dealt with by the Valuation Tribunal for Wales.