Owners of Britain’s most expensive beach huts are blaming hikes in rates and taxes for a slump in the market. Nine wooden huts have gone up for sale at Mudeford Spit in Christchurch Harbour in Dorset, with a combined value is £3.8million. They are reportedly highly sought-after and do not remain on sale for long, as their remote and exclusive location and stunning sea views mean the properties can command a price tag higher than the average UK home, BNPS reports. However, an unusually high number are currently on the market, prompting concerns that the tide is turning on the popular spot.

The area’s Liberal Democrat-run council has been accused of using beach huts’ owners as “cash cows”, after increasing annual licence fees for beach huts at Mudeford by 30% in the last two years, with another 5% hike planned for next year taking the rates to almost £5,000. Transfer fees charged by the council to anyone selling their hut to a new owner are now at £23,100.

‘It’s costing me more than Claridge’s’

Stephen Bath, who has a hut at Mudeford, said: “The council use the beach huts as a cash cow because they are in dire financial circumstances.

“I think that’s what’s caused people to try to sell up, hereditary owners who can’t afford the rent hikes.

“The council are getting cheeky, they don’t care who’s paying the rent.

“Plus people who have bought more recently, out of towners, are also thinking it is getting ridiculous.

“It costs more to stay at the beach than it would to stay at somewhere like Claridge’s.”

Another hut owner, who didn’t want to be named, said: “The council do use us as a cash cow, but they have always done it.

“However the fees have gone up dramatically in the last three years, we’re sitting ducks.

“Two years ago they increased it by 15 per cent, last year was 15 per cent and this year and the next two years it goes up another five per cent.

“I didn’t know so many were up for sale, that is high. But I expect there are multiple factors.

“Every penny from the beach huts gets put into a central pot and none of it is ever put back into the sandbank.

“The loos are in a diabolical state. They are 1960s blocks that are not really fit for purpose anymore.

“The owners who have had huts for generations and didn’t pay that much for them, can no longer afford to pay thousands in licence fees and when someone dies the council still want to charge them extortionate amounts to transfer ownership.

“The cost of living crisis might have put people off, and the government taxing the people who have got the money to pay £350,000 for a beach hut.”

Councillor Richard Herrett, BCP Council’s portfolio holder for leisure and destination, said the rental income for its beach huts enable it to reinvest in “crucial frontline services that residents rely on each day – such as adult social care and children’s services”.

The council said the five-year pricing structure brought in in 2022 simplified the service “allowing everyone to know the annual cost of beach huts until 2027/28”.

Cllr Herrett added: “Despite increasing financial constraints which many local authorities face, as a result of national pressures, the council has remained committed to that transparent pricing strategy and will do so into the future.”