If you own a second home how do you get treated by locals?

We have an apartment in Spain where traditionally there haven't been many Brits (although there are more now than when we bought it)
I speak reasonable Spanish and always use local non English speaking services etc and I find I generally get better treatment than people who don't
I suppose its about integrating and treating people with respect, which is universal

@Caerulea I never said that increases in council tax would put people off? I said ours was doubling but we are staying. I simply pointed out that many people in the "wooden chalets" suggested pay no council tax at all.

Sounds exactly where I am. My home is 'worth' far far more than it actually is, were we to sell it would have to be around a 3rd of the market value for it to be affordable to an ordinary working family on local wages.

And the idea that increases in council tax will put off cash buyers of half million pound houses is just laughable @Whenim63 . Pretty sure most ppl just don't understand the level of wealth we are talking about here.

One of our neighbours is a second home owner and they stay, roughly I would say one week a month on average. They are not treated any differently to anyone else, we chat and help each other out. It is a village in Dorset - but there are a lot of 'non locals' here. It is very friendly village to everyone really, those who have family who have lived here for generations to those who have second homes and live in London. I find Dorset to be generally very friendly though.

Well yes they are allowed to move where they like.
They are also allowed to buy second homes.
It doesn't mean that it doesn't create a serious issue.

Rich retirees drive the prices up. Do you seriously expect locals selling their homes to sell below market value? They already probably work in a low wage tourist service job.
Does any other house seller do that?
Would you?
And I am talking half the market value. Where I live, the property is going around double the surrounding area.

We are a rural remote area, with a huge population of retirees. More than half the population.We do not have medical or care facilities to service them. We do not have staff to work in the hospitals or care services, because there is no affordable housing for them and most rentals are holiday let's. Long term rentals are not affordable and very rare.

Our school roles are falling because young families have nowhere to live.
Probably just as well the numbers are down because our schools cannot recruit teachers because they have nowhere to live either. ( We are not an area you can easily commute to).

It's a very serious issue which will lead to depopulation of these areas. And they won't be so attractive to move into with no locals to work in the amenities and local services. But by then the community will have been destroyed.

I don't own a second home and have never owned a second home.

However, it seems likely that the councils/government have/are introducing measures to make holiday home ownership much more difficult/expensive. With second home owners being vilified in the media/by the council/government, you will definitely find that this emboldens random people to express negativity to you in real life.

People are allowed to retire or seek a better life wherever they wish, some areas will be more desirable than others which mean higher priced houses. Locals can also choose whether to sell property to those wanting to move to a particular area - thankfully we live in a country where we are all allowed to pick and choose.

I agree with your second paragraph, this is probably the major issue which tends to annoy the locals.

I spoke to an elderly lady last year who lives in a terraced cottage in a coastal area.

She said there used to be a good community but there's nobody around in the winter anymore, due to most of the houses in her street being holiday homes/air bnbs, and she feels really lonely and vulnerable now. That made me feel very sad for her.

Alas even if not sold to second home owners, honestly in desirable holiday areas won't sell to locals. They are too expensive.
They will be sold to rich retirees from elsewhere or rich yummys Looking for the good life.

Which is fine, except that they tend to move in, go on committees to tell the locals how they have been doing everything wrong and then try to turn the place onto whatever suburbia they have moved from. That really pisses people off

Your friends may well judge you for having a second home

I judge my friends who do, but wouldn't tell them that as they've never asked my view

@sHREDDIES19

"We have two in a very popular tourist spot. One is long term rental the other is a holiday let. We use it as much as we can. I am well aware of the general unease some people have around this subject and I do understand. For me, that's why I don't have it empty for large chunks of time. If it's being used, it's helping us out and contributing to the local economy."

I have no issue with the long term rental especially in a tourist spot as you are providing housing for someone that lives and works in the local economy all year round.

But let's look at the holiday let. Now if you wished to change its use from a residential home to let's say a B&B or even a hotel then you would need planning permission. So why should you be able to change the use from residential to a holiday let without planning permission.

For me the simplest solution is to require planning permission for any change from a permanently occupied residential home (owned or rented). Local authorities can then decide how many holiday lets are permitted in each area in order to keep them as viable communities rather than becoming theme parks.

It's always been very convenient to present figures for Cornwall as a whole, it masks the problems nicely. You muddle up figures for empty homes/tourism reliance using densely populated areas like Bodmin, Redruth etc with the tiny villages along the coast & it's like 'there's no problem here 🤷🏼‍♀️'. Well there is, there really really is.

Banning and high taxing is always the "solution" given by many - it isn't. As you will see from my posts I am from a very popular tourist area. I could have the mindset many have shown on this thread or the numerous others there are of the "bash second home owners/holiday lets" that frequently appear but I am not, I am realistic as to how areas survive. If tourism did not exist here, there only other main income generation is hill farming - it is not enough to sustain the area.

Too many of friends and family will happily sell a property at high prices to non-local folk, then complain there are not enough houses for locals to purchase or the prices are too high.

For many rural tourist areas irrespective of tourism there are not enough jobs for locals, so for the younger generation it will mean, if they do not wish to farm or work in tourism they will have to move to other areas, where property is normally cheaper.

As for those complaining about the grants given during covid went to a % of people who didn't live in the UK but had a second home here, it was how the rules worked - we did not receive any grants as we own a company and therefore were deemed we somehow fiddled the tax system using dividends, so like others we struggled to pay the mortgage. Was it annoying to see plenty of others receive money, yes but in life you just get on with things and do your best to protect ones own family.

People are allowed to spend their money on whatever they want, others are allowed to sell their property to whomever they want (unless a s106 or restriction is in place) I certainly do not want to live in a society where an over reaching government thinks it can tell people where they should and should not live - if someone wants more than 1 home and can afford it then fine, someone else would have benefitted from selling it to them at a higher price if in a desirable area.

This is very true, but also complicated. That particular example is problematic due to the showground.

Often the planning has caveats for 'affordable' housing but it's still unaffordable for the local population who need homes. What we desperately need is places to rent at a reasonable rate.

But it goes both ways, the council approve some absolutely batshit stuff - by my house the council allowed a campsite to be put in next to a residential (the only part of the village with no holiday lets amazingly) estate overlooking our houses & gardens sending all the foot traffic down our road. We all objected, the AONB ppl told them no, Rural England told them no & they did it anyway. It's so inappropriate it beggars belief. So from May till October we've got the smell of campfires & ppl having lovely holidays out in the open right by our homes.

Had there been an application for social housing or housing for rental there I'd have written in wholehearted support!

The argument “it’s ok to have a big second home that a first time buyer couldn’t afford” is ridiculous. Smaller properties only become available when the current owners are able to move on to something larger. By taking that property from a family you are having a direct impact on the people trying to get on the property ladder. It’s such a disingenuous argument. We live in a flatted house conversion. The jump to owning our own house in this area is massive, especially with the increased interest rates. We are looking at starting a family and would love to have a spare room, but it feels impossible in our corner of Scotland. It grates me to see 3/4 bed houses in our village that are empty. The local nursery is shutting because there aren’t enough kids. As other posters have suggested, there are beautiful wooden chalets and static caravans nearby that don’t take away from local housing stock.

We have two in a very popular tourist spot. One is long term rental the other is a holiday let. We use it as much as we can. I am well aware of the general unease some people have around this subject and I do understand. For me, that's why I don't have it empty for large chunks of time. If it's being used, it's helping us out and contributing to the local economy. Our neighbours are a mix of holiday home owners and locals, we rub along fine and have a Whatsapp group set up. I do think that unless you're planning to also holiday let it for significant periods of the year, this isn't a great idea as the rules around second homes and council tax are likely to change (as they have already been introduced in some parts of Wales).

Its similar where we live, we have a summer house, the odd one is used as a permanent residence, but very very few, lots don’t even have mains electric.

When we lived in the UK we had a holiday home, it had a restrictive covenant that meant it couldn’t be used as a permanent dwelling, we also didn’t have neighbours as such.

And what would the locals do? Your figures are for Cornwall as a whole, but look at the honey pot coastal areas. In those areas the local economy relies massively on tourism.

I can't imagine what would happen in my village. How cheap would housing have to be for someone working on minimum wage in a pub to afford a house? And when the pub they work in closes down what do they do then?

I was priced out of where I grew up 30 years ago. My siblings too- they live in the next town.

There is a road closure here which is effectively cutting us off from tourism until Christmas. Some local businesses say this will tip them over the edge after a poor summer season. The bad summer has left us with 3 empty shops and two closed down restaurants.

Not at all for my town- anyone moving in to live here and be part of the town is always welcomed where I live. I’d say about 70% are original outsiders and 30% actually born and grew up in the town. Many from over seas too, again who are welcome. It’s specifically holiday home and air bnb bought homes that piss people off ime

and they were born there

We have a holiday home in the west of Ireland in an estate with a mixture of locals and second homers . TBH the locals prefer to buy out of the village in the countryside , it's a really nice community and most people get on very well, integrate use the local shop and pub and my daughter shares a house now with her friends from the village in the big city where they work now. Local school is thriving.

I live in a small town that is sought after by local cities especially after Covid. What annoys me and many other locals, is people outbidding other local people for properties to turn them into air bnb/holiday homes and not contributing to the community in anyway.
There are many young families who are not getting a chance to buy in their own town because of this.
Not that anyone would be rude to them but it is definitely spoken about negatively when there is yet another holiday home bought that sits empty and could do a family all year round that are part of the community.

It's amusing though that just because someone owns their little bit of land which their home is built on, and theyvwere botnbthere..(and some dont even have that if they rent) that they seem to think they own the town or village they live in. They don't. Anyone buying a second home there has an equal right to be there. The village dwellers pretend that their concern is due to their children being outpriced by the incomers, when the reality is theyve created their own little ghetto and just dont like outsiders. Sad really..

I don't see the point in holiday homes. Why spend all that money when you can stay in a beautiful hotel or lodge for a couple of weeks a year in varying locations?

Not to mention pricing the locals out.

I live at completely the opposite end of the UK but understand many of the comments regarding the negative effects of holiday homes.