Staggering 10 year wait to rent a beach hut in popular seaside towns

Brits are choosing to travel within the UK more and more, with beaches and national parks seeing a surge in popularity over recent years. Some are splurging on second homes, but another option is to look for a beach hut on your favourite coastline.

However, those wanting to buy a beach hut in East Devon are finding themselves on 10-year long waiting lists.

In fact, demand has reached such a fever pitch that East Devon District Council (EDDC) has closed waiting lists for the time being.

Some people have already been waiting seven years, with data from EDDC showing there are 2,970 people currently waiting across all sites.

People can be on more than one waiting list, and the wait for Budleigh Salterton is said to be eight to 10 years.

You don’t have to live in Devon to put your name down, EDDC has confirmed it has tenants from lots of varied locations.

The area with the largest waiting list is Exmouth Chalets, with 355 people currently vying for 20 huts. Second is West Walk, with 350 people waiting and 85 huts on the site.

The shortest wait list is ‘Police’ beach huts in Budleigh Salterton, with 47 people but just eight huts.

And tenants are staying in the huts for a while. Records only go back to 2006, but 24 people have had their hut since at least then.

So how much does it cost? Well the most expensive area to rent a beach hut is Sidmouth which charges £1,151 plus vat, from April 1, 2023, to October 31, 2023. Next is Exmouth available all year round with two different options. Beach huts cost £1, 129.00 plus vat, and chalets cost £2,326 plus vat.

A spokesperson for East Devon District Council said: “The time it can take to be offered a beach hut is very hard to give. Every site moves at a different speed.

“At Police beach huts in Budleigh Salterton, we have had six out of the eight tenants in situ since at least 2006. But 44 of the Exmouth tenants have been in situ for less than five years.

“Each tenant on the waiting list is waiting for a current tenant to provide notice to free a space up. Once they have a beach hut, they can keep it for as long as they like, providing they stick to the guidelines set within their tenancy agreement.

“Some have been tenants for well over 15 years and some only last a season or two. The larger sites do move more quickly than the smaller ones and so these waiting lists are likely to be shorter.”