CALLS have been made for a clamp down on second home owners who use a "scandalous" legal loophole to avoid paying council tax.

Arfon AM Siân Gwenllian and Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts are pushing the Welsh Government for an "urgent review."

Their intervention comes as figures reveal nearly eight hundred second home owners in Gwynedd have registered their properties as small businesses.

This makes them exempt from paying both council tax and business rates, at a time when the Plaid Cymru politicians say there are 2,000 families on the housing waiting register in Gwynedd.

Siân Gwenllian, who has written to the Welsh Government said:

"There are now 5,000 second homes in Gwynedd, more than in any other county in Wales.

"Undoubtedly, some second home owners contribute to the local economy, but many spend very little in our shops and businesses.

"But 800 second home owners are now exploiting a legal loophole to avoid paying any council tax at all by registering their properties as small businesses.

"To rub salt in the wound, they are also exempt from paying business rates."

To qualify as a ‘business,’ second homes must be available to let for 140 days a year.

Mrs Gwenllian added: "How that is monitored is unclear and I hear stories of second home owners openly flaunting this rule, or ‘letting’ to family or friends.

"This is scandalous, and the loophole needs to be closed. I have constituents desperate to move to social housing from unsuitable accommodation.

"Buying a house is not an option for those on the housing waiting list and, in some areas, the high percentage of second homes has even slowly pushed up house prices beyond the reach of local families on 'decent' salaries."

Liz Saville Roberts MP said: "The impact of second homes in my Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency cannot be underestimated.

"I know first-hand how frustrating it is for young people to be priced out of the market in their own community.

"Second homes drive-up house prices beyond the reach of local salaries. If this trajectory persists then more families and young people will be priced out of their local communities leading to hugely damaging implications for community life.’

"Whilst local councils are forced to increase council tax to plug the shortfall in their budgets, it’s completely unacceptable that some are able to benefit from local services whilst paying nothing into the local coffers."

She added: "It is only right that questions are asked as to why Welsh taxpayers are having to subsidise those who own second homes.

"Housing, planning and business rates are devolved, and the Welsh Labour Government must use their powers to address the deep inequality of which the second home market is a stark symbol in many rural and coastal communities."