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

@TizerorFizz and @FinishTheBook - you both demonstrate exactly why the locals may have a problem.

We own a second home in Cornwall. 😅

We don't have neighbours close by so I think we escape a lot of the judgement. We've had a few negative comments over the years but we just ignore them.

I have a villa in The Canaries.
My neighbours never bat an eyelid.
They keep an eye on my home.
Ask if i've had a lovely time.
Who from my family went with Mr etc.
But one of my neighbours is Jane Mcdonald..
She's away more than me lol.

Live in a tourist 'hot spot' and own two other houses near by, not quite what you mean but second and third homes. Nobody cares, other locals just see the money they earn is spent back in the local economy. Equally as a tourist hot spot the house across form me is a second home. I couldn't care less. It was a derelict ruin before the 2nd home owners renovated it, so I treat them just live everyone else here.

The whole second home thing is massively over reported, and just plays to a few loud mouths who think the world owes them a living

Also, OP, be aware that some of your own friends may secretly judge you for buying a second home

But, I get the impression you've already decided to go for it anyway

Immediately the nasty posts from the Cornish start. I bitterly regret buying there. I do think I support the local economy and so do people who rent from me. I’ve noticed an undercurrent a couple of times. A friend has sold in Wales as he didn’t speak Welsh and felt uncomfortable. It rather marks you out as not a local. I’m not sure why 500,000 people who live in Cornwall don’t like anyone else but we would love to sell. House prices are not high in all areas. Just coastal ones.

Yes but they still wouldn't be using the school, the library, the GP etc. These are the things that help to keep a community alive for locals

This. Same where I live. Seaside village. Large proportion of second homes. Doesn't bother me but I hear constant complaints from locals for the reasons stated.

Yes I think this is often true. My PIL had a holiday home in Wales but they, especially MIL seemed to spend nearly half their time there (they got it when FIL retired). MIL in particular spent a lot of time getting to know the neighbours and chatting to people in the village shops, going to art classes and joining walking groups etc. We went to stay there a couple of times and everyone seemed to know who she was! It did seem to be a friendly place to be fair.

You might be interested in looking into a unit that only has holiday occupancy permission, such as a static caravan, beach chalet or log cabin on a site?

Couldn’t you rent for this? There’s no shortage of holiday lets.

I think ideally you use a second home enough that you essentially become a local, and then no one has a problem with you. That’s the case with my friend whose family has a second home in a desirable part of Scotland- they’ve had it for like 40 years, they visit a lot, they know their neighbours and they actually spend money in the local economy. They seem to be part of the furniture.

MIL lives next door to one. It is two semi detached cottages which are fairly isolated.

The people next door use it for a few weeks a year. Apart from the fact it is one couple taking a 3 bed family home in an area where locals have no chance, they have now started letting it to friends or friends of friends for the odd week. Thing is, the 'friends' often have no idea how to behave and have no regard for the locals at all. Things like parking on MIL's drive and refusing to move to loud parties in the garden every night. It's not their house so they don't care, are rude and entitled.

MIL is on her 80s and living off n a fairly isolated place. She has no idea who is there and I'm sure is just dismissed dad the grumpy old bag next door.

She'd never say anything but loathes the second home owners with a passion.

It's an utterly selfish, dickish thing to do. If you want a holiday retreat buy a static caravan or something which doesn't take someone's home away.

In certain areas of Cornwall you will find open hostility, including unwelcoming signs and grumpiness in pubs and shops. Not to mention new housing being restricted so 2nd home owners can't buy. You're not welcome, honestly. Most are civil to your face but will absolutely bitch about you behind your back.

I no longer live there but grew up in a rural and coastal location. Very popular with second home owners especially those down from London. I can say hand on heart most hate second home owners. Most are like @Magnastorm and @SoNiceToComeHomeTo though in they wouldn't say anything to your face. Though when my sisters friend was approached by someone looking to buy when tending her front garden she did tell them to fuck off back to London.

I live in a not-massively touristy area but we're off the beaten track. There are a couple of homes which are second homes for people around here, and while I would obviously never be openly hostile to anyone, it's a fact that owning a second home is an utterly selfish thing to do. If you can live with driving up prices for people who actually want to live in an area and contribute, then crack on.

Where I live nobody is actively unpleasant to second home owners but we groan each time a property desperately needed by a local family is sold to somebody who spends a few weeks a year there, contributing nothing to the economy or the social life of the town.

I would say, don't buy a second home now.
I've got a one bedroomed second home in a not touristy area of Scotland. There aren't huge numbers of second homes in the area. The neighbours have always been very nice.
The doubling of council tax, however, is hammering me financially. I suspect that I am not as well heeled as the majority of second home owners and can't just absorb the extra cost. It doesn't meet the standards to be rentable.
Reluctantly, I have it on the market now, very cheaply, but there is very little interest in such a small house. Even though it is very affordable for a first time local buyer.
I offered it to every HA in the area but they all said they couldn’t make capital purchases.

My parents got one in a small village and second homes have ruined the place. The school has closed, shop is gone, locals have mostly moved to the nearest big town because they can't afford to live there any more and there are no facilities. Really sad. It's like a ghost town. And it's not like it's that far from my parents actual home that they couldn't go for day trips instead. The remaining locals are always campaigning for affordable homes and to get rid of the holiday lets.

Next door to us in London are second home owners. When they are here, they have a lot of extended family around and it can get noisy (my bed is against a party wall) and full of cars. But they're abroad for over half the year. They're very nice people. The couple who own the house are quiet even when they're in, it's only the grandchildren who are loud. The couple don't speak much English so I don't have a lot to do with them, but they are always smiling and saying 'Hello, Neighbour' if we pass. All the younger generations are fluent in English so we wait till they're around if we have a mesage that needs passing on. We sometimes get gifts of food at iftars during Ramadan and at Eid. We give food if they're around at Christmas & Easter. That's about all we see of them. We're not a street that has street parties or anything anyway (unless the neighbours all go around each others' houses and don't invite us 😂), but if we did I'm sure they'd be as welcome as everyone else.

They are a nightmare in my village. They reduce the housing and push the prices up for people that actually want to live here and be part of the community. At least with the houses that are rented out as holiday lets, visitors spend money at the pub or village shop. But houses that are left empty most of the year are awful.

Writing this from my parents holiday home in France. They’ve had it for 20 years, and are finally selling up this year as it’s become too much work to maintain from a distance, and neither my sister not I are keen to take it on full time.

they’ve never experienced any negativity. But their place is not in a very touristy / pretty village, and there are only a few other Brits around - unlike some of the more picturesque places which have loads of second homes. The local community here is thriving and seems to be expanding all the time so I don’t think there’s any problem re lack of housing or high cost. Plus they always shop locally, pay their taxes and have done their best to befriend the neighbours. They also keep their place in good condition.

We have friends who live down near the Spanish border and they do report hostility from the locals - but their village now has an Irish pub and a large (and quite insular) expat presence, plus silly house prices and a lot lying empty for most of the year.

The house next door to ours is a holiday home (small seaside village in Scotland). They are individually lovely but given locals are being priced out and the school roll is dropping...there is definitely a general issue with second homes here. The most hate is reserved for badly parked RVs though.