To buy a holiday home or not?

I yearn for the same. Live in London for reasons and always dreamed of having a cottage by the coast to retreat to!

If you do it, watch out for rules about second homes in different council areas and particularly the multiple applied to the council tax.

Please don't.

Nobody should have a second home until everybody has a first home.

Our village is dying. We lost our primary school a couple of years ago and so many of the houses are empty in the winter. It's so sad to see. 😞

We bought our second home a few years ago. I understand the previous posters views and decided I wouldn’t buy a house that had previously been a main home. I realise this could be seen as weaselly but I really don’t think I’ve deprived anyone of a home.

We are in a similar position, but have not bought a 2nd home, partly because we like to visit different places. You will feel tied to visiting that one place all the time to ‘get your money’s worth’. We have a caravan and can take it all over the UK (and Europe should we so wish). So much more flexible. Spend the money you have on exploring different places each time rather than going to the same place time after time and denying some local person of a ‘first’ home.

So I’ve had a holiday home and I would on balance say don’t. It’s terrible for the local area ( though we essentially ended up living there very quickly). But also other people want to use it and as much as that sounds like a nice thing to do, it’s a PITA. You have to clean before and after,make beds move your stuff and then they leave with a thank you note and a few broken things. You still pay for water and electricity etc so essentially fund their holiday. It’s less fun than you think

I have bought one.

mine was purpose built a few decades ago in a site that is only for second homes. It’s more of a brick caravan than a proper house. You aren’t allowed to live in it permanently and the site closes novber-march.

it’s not depriving anyone of a home because you aren’t allowed to live there, in the same way as you are not allowed to live in a caravan holidays park,

I’d second one of these. In my experience the negative local impact is minimal, site fees are very affordable, although council tax will be high, even though you can only stay overnight for 9-10 months of the year.

I wouldn't is there maybe a log cabin or mobile home you can buy instead, buying a second home is really pricing people out of a first home.

Oh i see pp.suggested the same.

My friend did this. She struggled to be accepted locally for obvious reasons.

Whilst her kids were smaller they enjoyed the walks and space etc BUT as they got to teenage years they really resented it. They wanted weekends with friends, had sporting and volunteering and music commitments which made it almost impossible to visit with enough regularity to make it worthwhile.

She’s sold it recently and is using the cash for some pretty exciting holidays.

We had a lodge- in reality a posh caravan. It was in an area we loved and was reasonably easy to get to.
We initially loved it. But it cost a lot in upkeep . Some of this was fees which wouldn’t apply to an actual house. But there were fuel bills, general upkeep and it cost a lot to kit out the lodge.
After a few years we got bored of doing the same things over and over. We realised we would rather spend the money that went on upkeep towards going to new places. So we sold up.
I wouldn't buy another holiday home - even if I could afford a proper house.

I would not... mainly because it kills off local communities, and the younger generations can't afford to live near their families/where they grew up (if they choose to).

I appreciate that I sound boring and sensible, but I would rather put that money into paying off an outstanding mortgage and improving the home that I live for the rest of the year when I am not on my holidays. Disclaimer: my house has a LOT of DIY projects lined up...

We have a holiday home (inherited, abroad). I would never buy one, here or abroad. It's a major cost, there's always something going wrong and a hassle as it needs cleaning and the garden seeing too.

I have a second home and have had it for the past 20 years.in fact we are the longest standing of our immediate neighbours now.

20 years ago things were different and our house had been up for sale for over 4 years before we purchased it . It was a mixture of too expensive and needed renovation which possibly put a lot of buyers off, would never be considered a first time buyer type of property.

we’ve used it loads and was so good for my husbands mental health in his busy job as he felt he had a total reset each weekend visit. The plan was always to retire to it, but I’m a different woman to that woman of 20 years ago and I don’t think that’s my goal now so who knows we may sell at some future date.

We rent it out commercially for 6 months of the year now. It’s a fine house and people often say it’s nicer than their home ( which is nice to hear) and have lovely holidays and I try to do my best as an owner to meet and exceed their expectations.

I wouldn’t do it all again today though. If you can afford the double / triple council tax without thinking then crack on. But there are too many obstacles in your way and a feeling of local resentment which wasn’t there years ago.

if you do go for it though, become part of the community as much as you can. Spend your money locally in cafes and restaurants and employ locals to do the renovations and diy. Go to the carnival, Christmas light switch on and live your life well.