Why no tradition of owning holiday / country homes in the UK?

[rickyrickygrimes]

We’re currently on holiday in Iceland, out on a tour and passing lots of rural areas where there are loads of little holiday cottages - just simple wooden huts mostly with a little garden area and trees all around so pretty private and secluded without being really remote. We live in France, and there too it’s really common for a family to have a country house - usually owned by an older family member and available to younger generations to use at weekend and holidays. We used to live in NZ and again there’s a really strong tradition of families having a ‘bach’ - again usually a fairly simple wooden structure out in the bush or alongside a coast / lake (though a lot if these are not so simple anymore - nor cheap).

it just made me wonder why there’s no tradition like this in the UK? I knew one person growing up whose family had a ‘cabin’ in the west of Scotland, but they were pretty wealthy.

So we've a 'family compound' near the sea in Italy that's shared between DH and his siblings; one house each. The property/land is owned by the family and can't be split or sold. Our house will pass to our son, and through subsequent generations. DH parents have their separate summer house.

It's very common for Italians of all socio-economic classes to have access to a summer home, for three reasons:

1. The initial land/property may have originally been very cheap, bearing in mind it might be decades or even older, when property cost less. Even now, in some areas of Italy, property is cheap.

2. Napoleonic law means property passes down through the generations. You can't leave property outside the family (children first), unless it's to.the church. Often there might be multiple owners of a property, so selling isn't always an option.

3. Finally, many Italians grow up using the family summer home, getting used to sharing with other family members, and the tradition continues.

This will also apply to France, as they have similar inheritance laws.

British towns and cities all have big parks. And many people can get to somewhere lovely on a day trip, even to the seaside. There is not the same need to buy somewhere. My family lived in a suburb of Toronto which didn't have many places you could visit for a good day out.

Not really, there's a massive difference between a holiday home owner having a home that could be a "proper" home for someone else, compared with what the OP is talking about which are small cabins/shacks etc that are probably more akin to glamping than a proper home. THE problem is holiday home owners using a scarce resource of a proper house that should be occupied all year round, not just in holiday season!

My parents have one on the lakeside. They bought the plot and built house there in 90s when it was relatively cheap because the country just emerged from communism and there was not much money in general. It would be super expensive now.

It's also worth mentioning that these types of houses are generally much more basic than a regular ones and not suitable for colder months.

Lots of Brits own holiday homes abroad. My parents had a house in France for 20 years.

This will also apply to France, as they have similar inheritance laws.

Yes, I was really surprised that the UK is different & dc can lose out.

Nobody should have a holiday home until everyone has a home.

@rickyrickygrimes I can help explain part of the Nz Bach (holiday home) phenomenon- many returned servicemen after WW2 were ballloted / gifted / sold for a tiny price parcels of land in remote areas. That’s why we had a holiday home in the family for 70 years when my grandparents were of very modest means and only 22 when they built the house (themselves! On weekends with friends’ help)

ps and there’s no inheritance or capital gains tax in Nz

I think it’s to do with weather. A lot of scandic countries tend to holiday at home during the summer and then go abroad for winter sun. Our summers are often not great so we travel for summer sun.

It's one of the things I think is such a shame about living in the UK. At home (Denmark) I'd definitely have had a summer house at the coast, but it's just not feasible here.

I think the weather has something to do with it too.
We don't own a second home but we do own a boat and whilst we love it, it's not really financially prudent. Weekends when we don’t have any other commitments and the weather is good are few and far between and I try not to think about the cost per hour sailed. Having a holiday home would be similar I think and there's not a huge appeal to potentially spending hours in traffic on the motorway to spend a rainy weekend in your second home.
I know more people who own holiday homes in other countries than in the UK. If you're in a position to be able to afford a second home it's often cheaper to buy abroad, if you live near an airport potentially easier to get there too and you're more likely to have good weather when you get there.
It's relatively cheap and easy for us to travel to warmer climes so I think that most people prefer to use their money to holiday abroad. I'd think that in countries where is is difficult/very expensive to travel to different countries there's likely to be more enthusiasm for holiday homes in the same country,

@rickyrickygrimes

If you're from Scotland, then surely you know the Broons have a But n Ben? I think it's where Granpaw was born and brought up.

When I was growing up in south London 1970s, almost every family would have a caravan or chalet within a couple of hours, in places like Leysdown, Seasalter, Hastings, Margate, some even ventured to Jaywick and Southend. These were on sites which opened 1 March and closed 31 October. Ground rent was a couple of hundred £ a year. What we now know as a Static Caravan really came into being from the mid-70s on, up to then you would get your water from a communal tap and use the toilet/shower block.
if you were posh enough to own a chalet (I think my mum paid £1800 for her chalet) of course you had services and your own toilet.
Whole extended families would decamp ‘down the van’ for the summer, Dads returning each Friday night after work for the weekend.
We had splendid times with cousins, aunts, grannies. At one point, 5 branches of my family had caravans/chalets on the same site.

Property is so expensive in the UK, a lot of people struggle to own one home or can't at all.

My in-laws had a small holiday home cottage in wales but when they died it had to be sold to cover IHT. I know a couple of people from my parents generation (age 70-80) who have a small holiday home in Cornwall or similar. No one from my generation (50s) or younger.

My parents live on the coast and have a beach hut but it's a very limited arrangement. It's a structure that can be dismantled and can only stay on the sea front May-October. You can't stay in it overnight and although they have a stove there is no running water or toilet, just public facilities nearby. Not what I would call a "home", a shelter/ changing room maybe.

This is also popular in Switzerland and Germany. And it's mainly to do with the fact that most people live in apartments with no gardens. So you buy ownership of a garden, some use an allotment, some grow flowers to decorate their home, others use as a family space to bbq and sunbathe.

They usually have a tiny chalet and a power and water connection. On the Swiss ones they have a little society of owners, and usually have a little bar/snack place, toilets and a shop for gardening bits and pieces, plus the use of wheelbarrow/trolleys etc.

There's a huge waiting list to get one, and the owners society discuss the value on selling, based on location and what improvements you've made. Most are handed down to family members though.

Why, exactly? If I pay all my (massive) taxes, and I do. I also paid second home stamp duty, I now pay second home council tax, all from money that is already taxed at higher rate. Why should I not be allowed to spend the minority of my own money that is left after tax, on something I use and enjoy?

There aren’t enough homes in many areas for those who need it, yet alone adding second houses into the mix. As someone upthread mentioned, we have static caravans😳

I've never wanted a second home in UK, can't see the point of the huge expense & having the same lousy weather as my main home.
Like many people, I bought a place in Europe. It was a fraction of the price of a similar property in England, running costs were a lot less, it was attractive to paying visitors, & for many years it provided me with countless cheap holidays & a decent profit overall.
Never regretted it for a moment - unlike some friends who bought in UK.

As well as the cost of houses/no time off, I think we probably didn't have a time in history where people could actually acquire a little house in the 'country'. Everything was owned by the aristocracy - you couldn't just rock up and build a little hut in the wilderness. Lord Wotsit would burn it down, perhaps with you in it (even if your family had actually lived there for centuries, in some cases!). It was all deer parks, private land, poachers will be hanged etc etc.

Land ownership. England and Wales is owned. You never got rid of your monarch and the aristocracy so your land isn't your own. You can't just go around putting up shacks where you please.

You used to in Scotland at least have but&bens, which are in the tradition of Russian dachas etc.

@Tomatocutwithazigzagedge

you are quite correct: we live city centre in France and everyone lives in apartments, and nipping off to the country house every weekend and school holiday makes up for that. Plus as someone said up thread there’s a stronger tradition of spending time together as a family in the holidays, rather than heading off abroad just with the immediate family. Most of my kids friends get shipped off to the family country place with grandparents in tow for several weeks every summer.

Land ownership. England and Wales is owned. You never got rid of your monarch and the aristocracy so your land isn't your own. You can't just go around putting up shacks where you please.

This is probably the number 1 reason

It was all deer parks, private land,

Still is. The English don't own shit.

Lots of people on the Netherlands have little garden “homes” called Volstuitjes in the suburbs, often of the city they live in. It’s for people who live in apartments to have a garden. They usually have a simple wooden structure that has a little kitchen and a Seating area and maybe A bed in the loft (similar to a British beach hut but a bit bigger). You’re not supposed to live in them but people often stay overnight at the weekends. Like do much in Dutch society, they are a very civilised thing indeed.