Holiday Home

A holiday cottage is one building that gets used by multiple visitors, rather than the visitors occasionally occupying multiple homes. Therefore more space for people who use and preserve essential services.

Right, and who owns the holiday cottage? Private owner? Holiday company? Why aren't they selfish for renting out a property that could be owned by a saintly family?

We have one an hours drive away and use it a lot. We go straight from school on Friday and sometimes go straight to school on the Monday morning or come home Sunday evening. We use slot in the holidays too. So much to do for the kids within walking distance.

We don’t rent it out but family do use it as well. I can see the kids will not want to go as much when they’re older but we’ll hang onto it and use again when they’re old enough to stay home alone/at uni etc.

It’s our happy place ☺️

The really good think about having your own place is that you don’t need to do the drive at designated times - to arrive after 4 and leave before 10 as you
might with a holiday rental. We often go down on a Thursday when traffic is quiet and leave on a Monday when it is even quieter

My ex’s family had a seaside holiday place a couple hours drive away. Like others have said, it was used a lot when they were younger children, less so when they were teens, and then picked up again when they were adults. Now is probably the ideal time in terms of lifestyle, before your children become older and more independent.

They had a local gardener as they didn’t want to spend their weekends there catching up on gardening, but an apartment wouldn’t have that issue.

good luck with the viewing!

More lol

Lol

Being occupied by holidaymakers isn't the same thing, OP. They don't make the same use of the local services - GP surgery, dentist, school, nursery, shops - so these end up closing. There are villages near me which are silent and dark in the evenings because of all the second homers owning housing which is needed by local families, and now there are problems with vandalism which didn't exist when the homes were inhabited. . Please reconsider. There are other ways of having regular access to your favourite part of the country, including recurring bookings at a lovely holiday cottage, or camping. Cheaper and less hassle in the long run.

I absolutely agree. For the interest well invested 1.3 million would accrue I'd rather rent each year somewhere for a couple of months and go to different places without the hassle of maintenance, security, issues etc.
Im assuming at that price point the service charge would be pretty high too.

I'm not jealous. Could probably afford a second home if I wanted one. But I think the morality of second homes shouldn't be ignored

You must admit that you are doing a lot of drip-feeding on this thread. If the price of the apartment, which is obviously out of reach of the average family, had been included in the OP the thread would have been half as long.

I would absolutely go for it, especially as it is so close to you.
That sort of distance is nothing in the greater scheme of things and having it available, I think you will be surprised just how often you actually use it (either singularly or as a couple / family).
If you leave it, you may be priced out later or feel you cannot justify it.

The only thing I would hate though is it being used by friends but that is possibly a personal thing.
It would be an extension of my house and I would want to leave it ready for MY next visit, not having to tidy everything personal away in case the next visitor turned out to be a friend instead.

They are generally not a great investment due to the CGT unless its a home you are going to move into when you retire thus turning into your principal residence.

We have toyed with it a few times.

DSis has a holiday home. She found that after the first summer it didn't feel particularly exciting going but they still feel like they have to go all the time to get the use out of it. It's not as nice as their actual home and often she would rather be at home. She says it causes problems when you have things going on at home for a few weeks eg kids activities/parties etc and you can't go and then when you do eventually get a weekend you find there is loads to do at the holiday cottage so it isn't as relaxing as it would be if you'd booked a hotel somewhere (although it sounds like yours wouldn't have a garden etc). She also gets really fed up of other people (friends and family) using it and the associated costs eg cleaning, restocking everything, washing bedding and towels, wear and tear etc. Because they have it and everyone knows they have it they don't really feel like they can say no.

I'd go for it OP, it sounds like you / family would get lots of use out of it and the idea of having a place to escape to sounds lovely.

Would also be nice for when your kids are older and have their own families!

We have a second home in a village in Devon. So many people post on the local Facebook group about second home owners ruining the community. It doesn't. We are always going down to our cottage and we spend a lot of money in the local establishments as do our now adult children and partners. All year round. There are a fair few properties for sale in the village, in the same price range as our cottage, but the locals never seem to snap them up. Part of the problem is that people want to rent a house to live in, but nobody wants to be a landlord anymore.

A flat also won’t need gardening etc. Seems a fine idea, go for it OP.

I think the property OP is looking at is not going to detrimentally impact the community in any significant way. It’s a £1.3 million apartment so pretty niche in the big picture.

Says it all 😂

So much jealousy on this thread!

OP have you done the maths to see how much each visit would cost you if you went monthly, fortnightly, weekly...? If you have a Times subscription, Giles Coren did a good column recently about his family's decision to sell their second home in the Cotswolds.

I could name any number of villages where doctor's surgeries are closing and the local school.have closed because 80% of the houses are empty in excess of 50% of the year and the owners school their children at their primary home.

Second homes kill communities. Sorry if the truth hurts.

Go for it! Theres some real negative cranks on MN.

I was fortunate enough growing up that our family had two holiday homes, one in Cornwall and the other in Menorca.

We had so many lovely family breaks, and as a teen, my friends and I would go and stay for a week or two at a time and we loved every second it.

I bought a holiday home abroad a few years ago, and family/friends have all benefited from it too. Personally, I wouldn’t be inclined to buy in the UK because I love the guaranteed heat overseas, but if it’s a place you love and can see your family making wonderful memories, you should do it!