Second home owners... what are you doing about your property?

[DareIask]

We haven't visited since September due to restrictions.

Becoming a little concerned as we've never left a property over winter and not sure what we'll go back to. There's no heating on, and although pipes freezing is unlikely I just worry about damp etc

Any experience anyone?

I know this is a privileged problem to have and I have no intention of starting a debate on second homes. Just empty ones

Thanks

Mrs Thomas... would the Welsh tourist industry survive if no one owned more than one property?

Is that a serious question OP?

With all the hotels, guest houses, b&b, holiday parks and camping and caravanning sites, as well as millions of day trips per year, I think the Welsh tourism industry might survive without second home owners.

You you really think any tourist industry relies on second home owners like you?

Well obviously I wasn't referring to those of us who live in our homes.

I was referring to the self catering etc

Wow OP you are getting some hateful replies. Why are people so utterly hateful and nasty? It reflects very badly on them.

I’m sure they are trying to sound principled and concerned; unfortunately they sound bitter and jealous. Isn’t it wonderful to sit behind a keyboard spouting the sort of bile you’d never dream of spouting in real life.

@CountessFrog

Wow OP you are getting some hateful replies. Why are people so utterly hateful and nasty? It reflects very badly on them.

I’m sure they are trying to sound principled and concerned; unfortunately they sound bitter and jealous. Isn’t it wonderful to sit behind a keyboard spouting the sort of bile you’d never dream of spouting in real life.

It's amazing isn't it. Really doesn't bother me..I genuinely don't feel I've done anything wrong and I am actually quite principled. Each to their own opinion though.

There's been an article in a couple of papers today about an entire village for sale in Gwynedd... unwanted by the Welsh it seems.

Gwynedd is beautiful, had a house their since I was a child as my grandparents live their. It's our second home now. I adore it and speak some Welsh, our neighbour was elderly and bixarily we were only people who cared. Bought her shopping, visited her regularly, cut her grass when up there.
Strnage how we are evil second home peeps thought....
Also an dyou can Google it, if you move out of villages near the sea in that area you can get a 3 bed house for around 100k max, they don't sell though as no one wnats them due to employment market issues. Sad for the area as I have extreamly found memories of the area throughout my life and wnat my son too as well. Might even teach him some Welsh for fun when he's older.

Aberllefenni. Are you familiar with it?

Its not the same place as it was 100 years ago. It served its purpose as a quarrying village. Now there are no jobs in the area apart from agriculture. Mobile signal and broadband is very limited.

Easy to sit behind that keyboard eh?

Brilliant if your a writer or for studying though and wnat some time away with limited contact. World would be a sad place if we were all the same.

I hope you got it sorted op. And good luck with the volunteering to vaccinate. X

Sounds like a perfect holiday village 😉

Ours is a second home but also a holiday let. A neighbour reported us and the police came over two days in a row. We explained we were doing maintenance (Hive had stopped working, sink had sprouted a leak underneath and outside tap needed lagging) and they said no problem.

Yes I’m familiar with Abersoch. There are some lovely 3 bed new build homes in the centre on the open market for £350k - selling to locals at affordable price for £190k. A 45% discount.

They’ve been on the market for about 3 years now - seems locals don’t want to buy them even though they’re cheap?

No experience of second homes. Other than the existence of them driving up property prices and forcing some of my relatives to move away so they could afford somewhere.

Ours is a static
Going to go week after next to check and put in new damp traps
Bugger it
Won’t see anybody, so no harm done

@BarryWhiteIsMyBrother

Ours is a second home but also a holiday let. A neighbour reported us and the police came over two days in a row. We explained we were doing maintenance (Hive had stopped working, sink had sprouted a leak underneath and outside tap needed lagging) and they said no problem.

How awful Reserve a place in hell Just for them

I hope the fish was Cornish-caught and not from Asda.

@MrsDThomas

My friend lives next door to a 2nd home. She has a key and check on things.

Its called being nice and neighbourly.

'Good' on her. However: As stated above:

My elderly aunt was 'the neighbour'. She and her DH had bought the house decades before, in a small fishing village. The whole 8 house terrace was occupied, bar one. She could look out of her top window and see the working harbour, and the lights twinkling of a night.

In her 70s, she was widowed. This was in the early 2000s. The entire terrace was, by then, holiday homes. She sobbed to my mum on the phone one winter saying she'd looked out one night over the rooftops to the harbour, and couldn't see a single domestic light on.

Her key rack was a mass of 'spare keys' that second home owners had asked her to hold. After winter storms, she'd anxiously scan the roofs she could see with binoculars and call local tradesmen out to fix fallen tiles, etc.

So, if you're okay with the destruction if a local community with your second homes, employ a company to check out your house.

May I ask how 'neighbourly' the second home owner who owns the property next door is when your friend has a fall? Can't start her car? Had a leak that floods downstairs? Notices suspicions activity?

Hmm?

DimidDavilby brilliant.

We were zone 1 till the second homers came down pre Xmas. They went to the shops to stock up. They don't have all the comfort stuff - hot water bottles, paracetamol, etc they do in their main homes, so they went out for that. They were in the pubs, places locals like to go, our rare chance to finally catch up with friends.
Covid rocketed. I caught it. From one supermarket visit, we'd gone from 6cases to 30 in less then a week.
Look at Rock, Roseland, Newquay the big second home areas have very high rates of Covid. Elsewhere not so much.

People with second homes, 'pop' back to their main homes for the dentist, in person work meetings, they stop at the services for a wee... It has brought trouble in our area and we don't have the NHS provision for you.

It's a crazy time, suck it up, it will soon be back to normal but until then, please don't come down.

Locally we are reporting 'visitors' , the Hermes lady & the Waitrose delivery drivers are reporting people. You will get caught, damage your relations with local people and possibly end up with fish in your letter box ( not actually heard of that happening).

Ring a neighbour, I wouldn't mind checking your place, send you some photos, put your mind at rest. I"d rather do that then deliver groceries if you got ill or have you spreading it around because you don't know anyone at your second home to drop off milk and bread.

@TheFaithfulBorderBinliner

DimidDavilby brilliant.

We were zone 1 till the second homers came down pre Xmas. They went to the shops to stock up. They don't have all the comfort stuff - hot water bottles, paracetamol, etc they do in their main homes, so they went out for that. They were in the pubs, places locals like to go, our rare chance to finally catch up with friends.
Covid rocketed. I caught it. From one supermarket visit, we'd gone from 6cases to 30 in less then a week.
Look at Rock, Roseland, Newquay the big second home areas have very high rates of Covid. Elsewhere not so much.

People with second homes, 'pop' back to their main homes for the dentist, in person work meetings, they stop at the services for a wee... It has brought trouble in our area and we don't have the NHS provision for you.

It's a crazy time, suck it up, it will soon be back to normal but until then, please don't come down.

Locally we are reporting 'visitors' , the Hermes lady & the Waitrose delivery drivers are reporting people. You will get caught, damage your relations with local people and possibly end up with fish in your letter box ( not actually heard of that happening).

Ring a neighbour, I wouldn't mind checking your place, send you some photos, put your mind at rest. I"d rather do that then deliver groceries if you got ill or have you spreading it around because you don't know anyone at your second home to drop off milk and bread.

I understand why that is infuriating. It's just wrong. We shouldn't be travelling and mixing communities for any reason. Second homes. Christmas. Even unnecessary bubbles.

Please don't tar us all with the same brush. I'm worried about a property that means more to me in sentiment terms than financial.

Ring or write to a neighbour, these are unusual times. People will help or put you in touch with relevant trades.

Another local village has got very organised, they've got a freedom of information in getting the council tax records!

I presume those living in ‘second home’ type areas with strong views on the rights and wrongs of second homes think twice before ever taking a self catering holiday?

Because their conscience surely rules them out of travelling to the lakes, Cotswolds, Yorkshire dales, Peak District, Llyn peninsular, Devon, Cornwall, Dorset. Pretty much anywhere you’d want to holiday in the uk.

I can only assume they limit themselves to hotels and boarding houses in Skegness and Blackpool. Or perhaps beauty spots abroad, where no local was ever driven away by the rise of global tourism.

Nail on head and a heartbreaking tale @Miljea.

I know there are responsible second home owners who really love their second homes and the community they are in, but it still does damage.

Anyway, I appreciate the OP didn’t come here for a sermon on the morality of second home ownership. And I really hope OP that your house is ok.

If it's drivable on a single tank of fuel in a day (there and back) I would suggest going to check on it and making arrangements with a local estate agent to hold a spare key to check on it fortnightly.

countessfrog thats a different thread. We're living in unusual times.
We need to focus on how to look after property without sticking fish through empty letterboxes and protect local populations including your main home if you pick up something nasty whilst here or travelling.

@Miljea
*May I ask how 'neighbourly' the second home owner who owns the property next door is when your friend has a fall? Can't start her car? Had a leak that floods downstairs? Notices suspicions activity?

Hmm?*

My friend would be absolutely fine thanks. Many neighbours around.