What disincentives could discourage people from buying second homes?

To be fair local communities are first and foremost killed by a lack of employment- encourage businesses and startups to start in villages and town which are decimated by unemployment.
Also work towards some semblance of metitocracy where the top 10% don't own 90% of the wealth.
Taxing second homes will not discourage the very, very wealthy - make sure there are less very very wealthy families by taxing them fairly and closing down all tax havens.

Perhaps second homes could be limited to new build flats? It seems so strange that classic, heritage properties in the heart of a village or town are sold to people who are never there, or who airbnb them, while local families get pushed further out into new builds on the edge of town.

Restructuring yes, but only to a certain degree.
Hotels and guest houses are usually more expensive and less practical for families. We can only afford one week away and have always used holiday cottages for both price point, more space and complete flexibility of space with a young family.
Where would these hotel and guest house rooms suddenly appear from?
Tourism income would definitely decrease.

High taxes added and not rented out as a business which is a very comfortable way to pay low tax on an extra income

By and large the best schools or have the best behaved children are in middle class areas.
I still think you are from a middle class area and don’t have to worry about a lot of the reasons people send their children to private school.

That is exactly the point I'm making about posters calling for wholesale banning second home ownership.
There is also the case of inherited property with no buyers. What do you do if you can't sell within an arbitrarily set time frame as pp suggested?

Take a look at Highland Council or Edinburgh Council who are tackling this issue already.

People who want to run holiday lets in tourist hotspots need planning permission, a licence, annual checks etc. The license costs £000s to obtain and has to be renewed every 3 years. They are likely to run it as a business and pay business rates so council tax is irrelevant to them.

People who don't want to let and have a second home for private use are subject to anything up to 400% Council tax.

Higher returns on an alternative investment with their cash.

People bought second homes because they were rising in value faster than investing in a stock market tracker or bonds, for example.

If you have a million quid and can either put it in a house yielding 7pc a year or shares yielding 3pc, it's sensible to buy as much property as possible.

Now in the lots of places, property prices are fairly stagnant which stock markets, particular in the US, have booked (possibly not sustainably but whatever).

So fewer people will be looking to buy a second home with their cash right now. They will put it in a better yielding investment and spend the money on a hotel or existing rental or so on.

Who probably lives in a middle class area where the state schools are excellent!

Op, I don’t disagree with everything you’ve said but you can’t say you’d shut private schools and ban second home ownership and then claim to be a liberal. You’re a left wing authoritarian 🤷‍♀️

However second homes are, to me, morally abhorrent and it seems many agree with me.

My dc had recently started a new job when their divorce came through, so they were homeless and unable to get a mortgage. I withdrew money from my SIPP to buy a second home for them to live in but needed to retain ownership as a pension asset.
Legally it is a second home and I had to pay the additional taxes on it, but all second homes are not what you think of, when you use the term. I also doubt all the ideas to control second home ownership could even accommodate a situation such as mine.

I don't mind second homes so much as third, fourth etc.

Inlaws have a seaside place we go down to, they are down there loads, less than an hour and a half from their main home, and spend a lot of time down there as do other family and friends and we've spend so much time down there over the years. They didn't buy it, so much as not sell it when the family member who lived there 100% of the time passed away. I agree with 'locals only' purchasing in some areas, or a certain quota set aside for local residents, and extra tax etc but I don't see there is anything wrong with having a second home per se when you do spend quite a lot of time there and it isn't rented out as a holiday let or a nuisance to neighbours. We always eat out and spend plenty of money in pubs and shops there. They are reliant on visitors eating out more and spending more than locals I'd say.

Have they not already done quite a few anyway in Scotland. When buying a second home - Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), an 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS)

For those who put them on non domestic rates and air b and b them etc, they need to annually provide evidence to the assessors they've leased them for a minimum of 70 nights and advertised for 140.

They don't get small business relief now unless they have a valid short term let license, which they need to renew every three years and reapply again for relief.

To be fair it’s often the case that they’re more interested than SOME of the other parents.

There are many parents with their kids at state school who are extremely interested and involved. But there are some who are not. Bringing in those parents who are currently interested enough to send their kids to a fee paying school would increase the numbers of those who are interested.

Personally I would shut all private schools because putting those children in the state system creates interested parents who will help to improve their local schools.

@Unabletosleep wow how patronising that you obviously consider private school parents as more ‘interested’ than state school parents.

They already paid additional stamp duty to buy house and pay double council tax.

Of course that is your right, but people can respectfully say those ideas are bonkers!

Presumably all the banners would be happy for the collapse of tourism that goes with it? And associated jobs?