Beach hut owners are furious about plans to change the terms of their licences and ramp up transfer fees when huts are sold.
Brighton and Hove City Council said that it contacted 459 hut owners on Friday (29 September) about the proposal to charge a transfer fee worth 10 per cent of the sales price.
Beach hut owner Serena Mitchell was outraged by the proposed increase which she said was a “stealth tax” and a 3,000 per cent increase on the transfer fee.
At the start of the year, the transfer fee was £82 and the annual licence fee was £457 and due to go up 5 per cent to £480.
She said:
“Many hut owners like me have had their hut for years or even decades. The hut community are furious. This is the council trying to make money off easy targets.
“What in effect is a 3,000 per cent increase is outrageous. Ten per cent of £25,000 is £2,500 compared with £85. Even stamp duty is 0 per cent up to £250,000 and then only 5 per cent on the next band value.
“Hut owners have to pay £500 a year for their lease pitch and spend several hundred a year in maintaining and insurance.
“We are now being punished for maintaining and owning a Brighton public relations feature. We can’t even rent them out for the day like some councils do or allow.
“In return, the council give us broken CCTV, dirty or out of action for months toilets, etc. We are often the victims of vandals and drunks urinating behind the huts which stinks.”
Some “hutters” said that they had not yet received a letter or email from the council and others made their feelings clear on the Hove Beach Hut Association Facebook page.
The council has also been looking at a rise of about 5 per cent in the annual licence fee – to just over £500.
But it said that it would not put up the licence fee if the transfer fee change went through.
The beach huts along Hove seafront sell for between £25,000 and £35,000, according to the council.
It said that neighbouring councils such as Adur charged a 10 per cent transfer fee, as did Rother District Council, in East Sussex.
And the annual licence fee in Worthing and Adur is between £612 and £810 a year.
The letter to beach hut owners said:
“Beach huts are being sold for significant sums because of their sought-after location on Hove seafront.
“The value of the hut itself is often disproportionate to the sale price achieved. This is because much of the value lies in the location on the seafront which is council-owned land.
“Currently, the council is not benefiting in any way from the profit made on the sale of a beach hut when most of the value is due to its prime position on the seafront.”
Beach hut owners have been asked to contact the council’s seafront office with their views by Thursday 19 October.
A report is due before the council’s Culture, Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Economic Development Committee on Thursday 9 November, with an update on the consultation and recommendations.
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