Bed tax will impact on property prices
Bed tax will have a negative effect on property prices, agents have claimed.
They say the controversial plan will eat into pub profits - and have a knock-on effect on prices.
This week the Conservative Party launched a campaign to stop the proposal to introduce a tax that would mean a 5% to 10% surcharge added to the bill of each guest staying in the bedroom of a pub.
Stephen Taylor, managing director of property agent Guy Simmonds, said that red tape and legislation is suffocating businesses and yet another hit could prove too much.
"Profit margins are being eroded by taxes and extra legislation. Pubs are valued on their profit margins, so this would have a knock-on effect."
Robert Chess, head of hotels for agent Fleurets, said the consumer may have to absorb the costs.
"It is yet another overhead on the business but the demand for letting rooms is high at the moment so the consumer may just take it. But if the extra cost falls on the hotelier or licensee, it is going to affect profit margins."
But Chris Platts, from Brownill Vickers, took the opposite view, saying that licensees would have to absorb the tax because guests simply will not pay extra.
"Everyone's trying to compete with bigger operators like Travelodge, and licensees have to work much harder to attract people. There's no way that people who stay in pubs will absorb these costs - it will fall to the licensee."
