Transfer Fees Rocket For Hove Beach Huts

Councillors have voted to put up the Hove beach hut transfer fee from £82 to at least £1,600 and possibly as much as £3,500.

The increased transfer fee will be the higher of 10 per cent of the sale price or four times the annual licence fee, which is currently about £500 a year or £420 before VAT.

It was voted through by the eight Labour members of a council committee, with Conservative councillor Anne Meadows voting against and Green councillor Raphael Hill abstaining.

At a meeting at Hove Town Hall, Labour councillor Jilly Stevens said that she and her colleagues were having to take “some horribly hard decisions” to maximise income.

Hove Beach Hut Association chair Cathy Biggs told the meeting that the transfer fee increase was unfair and was being imposed on hut owners – rather than being agreed with them.

Outside the meeting, fellow beach hut owners said that the council had ramped up the licence fee in recent years, making beach huts increasingly unaffordable for people like pensioners or the low-paid.

They have to be maintained, repainted and sometimes repaired and rebuilt because of weather-related wear and tear as well as break ins and vandalism. The bill can come to thousands of pounds a year.

And the prospect of the transfer fee – or sales tax – has been blamed for leading to a drop in sale prices by some who have spent significant sums on their huts over many years.

The council suggested that beach huts were selling for up to £35,000 each. But owners said that prices at the moment appeared to have dipped to about £22,000, with owners being forced to cut asking prices yet still not finding a buyer.

Some owners had suggested that the law only permitted Brighton and Hove City Council to charge transfer fees that covered the cost of the administrative work involved.

But the council’s head of law, Elizabeth Culbert, said that beach huts were a commercial service not a statutory service so they weren’t covered by those rules. In short, like any freehold property owner, the council could charge what it liked.

The transfer fee changes are being brought in under new licence terms which the council has told beach hut owners that they must agree by the end of next March.

A report to councillors said:

“Owners of any beach huts remaining on council land after Saturday 1 April 2024 without a new licence agreement in place (will) be required to remove the beach hut.

“Officers may take enforcement action if necessary to ensure that any unlicensed areas are vacated.”

Labour councillor Alan Robins, who chairs the council’s Culture, Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Economic Development Committee, said:

“Under the current beach hut licence, the council may require hut owners to remove their hut without specifying a reason.

“The new licence states that the council will only be able to require the hut owners to remove their huts from council land for the following reasons

• in the event of redevelopment of the land
• public safety

“This provides more certainty and protection for the beach hut owners than under the current arrangements.”

Councillor Robins also said that doors would no longer have to be just one colour but could be striped.

Councillor Meadows asked what beach hut owners could expect in return for the increased money that the council expected to make. She said:

“Will it mean that public toilets are opened and kept clean?”

The report to councillors looked at charges elsewhere but Councillor Meadows said that the council wasn’t necessarily comparing like with like.

She echoed remarks outside the meeting by hut owners who said that, in other places, beach huts had electricity and water and could be rented out – unlike the 459 huts in Hove.

The council said that the owners were making a profit when they sold their huts because of the prime council-owned seafront location.

But Councillor Meadows said that the beach hut owners provided an enhanced seafront experience while the council did very little for the area except charge hut owners an annual licence fee.

She also criticised the way that the council planned to impose the new licence terms, saying:

“It’s rather a brutish approach. It’s pay up or get out – and you’ll have to pay for the removal of your beach hut … Hardly a caring council.”

Councillor Stevens said:

“We’re not picking on beach hut owners. We are in the process of working out our budget for next year.

“We are looking at all council services and all council assets where we can maximise income. We’re having to make some horribly hard decisions and I think everybody knows that.

“I’m just sad that feelings have run so high on this one.”

She praised the level of engagement by hut owners and thanked them for writing to councillors, adding:

“We may disagree but thank you anyway because it shows your engaged.”

Green councillor Raphael Hill said:

“Owners spend a lot of money on their beach huts. I don’t think beach hut owners make a profit.

“We may be pricing people out through these transfer fees. There is considerable consultation that still needs to be done.”

Separately, the meeting was told that new beach chalets will shortly be arriving on Saltdean seafront, and look set to be quickly snapped up by residents currently on the waiting list.

The new “chalets” would bring the total number of beach chalets available across Hove, Rottingdean, Madeira Drive, Ovingdean and Saltdean to 119.