Second Home owners doing sad faces in the press about council tax increase

Yes I like the sc option

been away this week and was glad to go back “home” and make food when I’d been busy in the daytime

Except that only about ten percent of "empty" (ie not permanantly inhabited) properties belong to second home owners and only a fraction of those belong to people outside the area of the "empty" house.

The notion that all these properties belong to moneyed up city dwellers is not borne out by the facts. In most rural areas they are more likely to belong to people from within the area.

There is also no right to buy in the neighbouring street to your parents for anyone. Most of those hated Londoners moving to Herts etc are doing so because they cannot afford to buy in the communities they come from and face ever longer commutes. The blocks of empty "investment" properties in London make most areas' second home ownership look like peanuts.

Outside of cities people move for work far more than property prices. You can put 500% tax on second/holiday homes and it won't magically conjure up the regular full time work needed to get a mortgage or a decent tenancy agreement.

Growing up, decades ago, I absolutely could not afford to buy my first home in the area I grew up in. Not because of second home owners, but because it’s just an expensive part of the UK (not London). I moved away for more affordable housing. I survived and actually I did better on the property market buying in cheaper areas.
What I didn’t do was have an expectation that I SHOULD or MUST be able to buy a property where I grew up. Nobody owes me anything, I am responsible for myself. It was expensive, I couldn’t afford it. So be it.

The trouble with second homes is that home is denied to someone who may want it as their only home. It’s awful that a young person can’t buy a home in the area they grew up in because they lose out to some moneyed up city dweller.

Yes I agree. I prefer self catering myself because I hate having breakfast in a restaurant. We do one meal in or picnic and one meal out everyday.
more fun this way. And when I am on holidays I love cooking special dishes and I always shop in independant businesses and at the market - mind you i dont holiday in thr UK so fruits and veg are easily accessible outside of supermarkets

DH and I are from families that had second homes. That is, never rented out either for holiday, or residential use. I actually do think those that are rented out can contribute to the economy if fully occupied. It was absolutely lovely for us to have second homes but I honestly cannot see how we benefited the local community at all. That is even with employing caretakers, cleaners and gardeners. It does surprise me that people claim this and take issue with the increased council tax.

Residents, living and working in the area, make a greater contribution in many different ways. They also employ cleaners and gardeners, frequent the pubs and restaurants and buy their presents for family and friends in the gift shops. This isn’t something only second home owners do. I would say though that builders, plumbers etc. can benefit from the situation as the small cheap cottage/house gets extended and completely renovated/upgraded. It will never again be affordable for most locals.

I live in an area very popular with tourists and holidaymakers. I feel that they are the ones who really provide the massive seasonal boost in our economy. That’s why bad weather has such a negative affect because they are less likely to choose to holiday here. Even if our families still had their second homes I would feel okay about the extra tax and be happy to contribute to it. I am glad to see that some posters don’t seem to resent it either.

When we marketed our own old cottage home we told the estate agent that we wouldn’t sell it to be a second home. He did say that people were often not honest about their intentions! We sold to people that have lived there for many years now. I don’t dislike second home owners and know many lovely people that are but I do think that too many isn’t good for a community.

But none of us are guaranteed houses where we grew up. 'Allowing' 'outsiders' to buy is a very different topic from whether second home owners decimate communities. Insular communities don't fare all that well.

My next door neighbour is a freelance writer, her DD is a starving artist. I'm not sure they're too chuffed about the kids of people from Hertfordshire towns finishing their uni finance degrees and coming to London to work in the city and buying up houses either.

So you are well connected to the local community. Most second home owners are nowhere near so involved.

Exactly..my point is that you can’t do away with one aspect (holiday home rentals) without foregoing the other (tourism and its income)!

Youre not wrong OP. Second home owners should pay double the going rate for CTax, they deprive the local area of enough money to provide services needed for all residents.

Hmmm I’m not sure about that…..

I live in a Hertfordshire town and I’m not too chuffed about Londoners moving here making homes too dear for us. The poor young ones can’t buy a house in a town they grew up in. I think there’s something wrong with that.

Govt stops us owning or using lots of things considered not to be good for society.

A home is a necessity, most people don't own multiple cars, unless they are hobbyists or needed for specific tasks.

2 adults 2 adult children living under the same roof my well need 4 cars if working, same as they'd have 4 cars if they all lived separately.

There is also not a shortage of cars.

But we are talking about such areas aren't we? not Merthyr..

In less touristy areas, there is often a decent rented sector, far less Airbnb for starters....

'Outsiders'?

Why am I envisioning a wild-eyed crowd with pitchforks and burning stakes, defending the village green while carrying their babies with third arms and 27 toes?

No 'outsiders' does not lead to healthy and vibrant communities.

I should clarify. When we bought the holiday home we were renting our main home so only had one property. That has since changed, hence paying double CT

See my previous post! Yes, I shop locally and yes it’s more expensive but the produce in the fishmongers/greengrocers etc is really good. I do not have shopping deliveries here, although I do at home. When we refurbished our house we used all local people, had our curtains and blinds made locally etc. My kitchen came from a joiner 5 minutes away. In terms of my hair/car/vet I use those services both here and at home. I do not have a GP here obviously, so if I need to I use a local private one. To be fair though I have to do that at home, because it’s impossible to get an appointment at my NHS GP.
We invest a lot in the area and we spend a lot of time here. We will retire here in the next few years.

do you use local businesses for all those things?
Does anybody?
I don't know about St, Ives but I live in a medium sized village and there are no furniture shops and never have been.
I think you are being unfair when the pp appears to be a part of the local community

She is paying council tax on a second home, the council won’t care that the first one is rented.

I have a second home in the UK and iv been paying 200 percent council tax for 3 years. I'm not complaining about it just saying it's not new in some areas. I just let family and friends borrow it if/when I'm not wanting to be using it myself.

How many local people shop in expensive village shops rather than the nearest Tesco? When we stay in Cornwall we do use the village shop (as well as the local Tesco) because that’s part of being on holiday, whereas BIL and SIL who live there never do because it’s too expensive!

Sounds like you are much more connected to your second home community than many.

However, where do you get your car serviced and your hair cut? Do you shop locally for groceries (village shops are always more expensive) or bring stuff from home? Do you use local businesses for all furniture, soft furnishings etc - probably less choice in a holiday area and who wants to spend their precious 'time off' on that kind of stuff? A normal community needs everyday businesses and facilities. These businesses provide jobs.

The thing is, this is a capitalist democracy where people can spend their own money on what they like, as unfair as it might seem. If you say that no one can have a second home, why stop there? Maybe only one car per household? Maybe only one fly holiday every other year for everyone because of the planet? Once the government starts dictating what people can buy with their own money, it's a slippery slope.

ETA: Come to think of it, it's amazing that the government is taxing second homes but not households with multiple cars, which damage the environment. Some households with young adults living there have 3-4 cars.

But presumably people who only own one home will not have to pay the enhanced council tax? The PP rents her main home, so technically she does only own one home. Or is the enhanced rate extended to people who rent one home and own another?

No it was philosphical - that everyone should have the opportunity to own their own home and most WC voters at the time would align with that aspiration.

The real issue was the scale of the discount encourage some to get "on the dream ladder" only to fall off it in later years (poor quality or poorly located property) combined with banning councils from using the proceeds to invest in new housing stock. There were also councils who then made it difficult for anyone else to build partly for political point scoring. Often these were the same councils who compulsory purchased stocks of secondary public housing such as Peabody types. Of course classic stock - terraces and semis with gardens in areas with employment - went like hot cakes leading to an overall reduction both in quantity and quality of stock.

If the scheme had been a little more measured and seen as a stepping stone to home ownership rather than a free for all then the whole country might have benefitted from managed sales. As it is, over reliance on a poorly regulated private sector to pick up the slack was never goign to work. A better regulated private sector may have been able to fill much of the gap.

We do not have a second home but if I could afford one I would in a heartbeat. I have a strong spiritual and emotional connection to my home county, and only live elsewhere because I need a job that pays the bills etc. If I did have a second home I would either rent it out, thus providing input into the local economy, or spend as much time as possible there. I would probably decamp for the whole summer.

we’ve just returned from a week in Cornwall, attending a family funeral, and have poured £££ into the local economy. Far more than we would in the same time period here. I’ve just had a quick scout online and Cornwall DMC estimates the value of tourism as 25-28% of GVA. Indeed, the seemingly continuous construction projects are largely holiday home related and no doubt being charged at premium rate.

we are past nursery age, so don’t use those, are fortunate to have limited drain on healthcare etc just now.

I do understand the problem, as the wage to house value ratio is a big part of the reason that I can’t return full time, but a lot of those moaning are the same people who sold out 15-20 years ago, making what they thought was a handsome profit. There will always be those who can afford it though, so the situation is unchanged