Council Tax concessions on second homes

[LornMowa]

AIBU to think that discounts on Council Tax should have been one of the first things to go. Surely, when many people can't afford even one home, then those people who are demonstrating that they have surplus income (by owning a holiday home) should pay full wack for their council tax on that second home.

Seewww.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/lib-dems-plotting-council-tax-hike-for-second-homes-2145638.htmlthis

Heartily agree that most locals practically cry with excitement at the prospect of affordable housing being built. Excuse our lack of delight when this is gradually reduced (as someone else mentioned above) to vanishing point in the final development. Also pardon the absence of cheering flag-waving children when planning is sought for great big houses on greenfield sites which will go straight to someone from another part of the country who will only deign to visit twice a year.

This might sound like a locals-v-incomers thing, but it really isn't. People coming to live in the area is fine. People buying up the housing stock, leaving the place standing empty, and expecting a 10% discount while they're at it are just taking the piss.

if it could be determined if it was a long term or short term second home then that would surely sort the absent holiday homers & investment owners from the divorcees/movers/bereaved?

That is already SORT OF in place with the 100% for 6 months if unfurnished, but could be adopted across the board for all second home discounts? so the people who can afford to own 2 homes indefinitely are the ones paying most, and the people who's circumstances change can sort themselves out?

So incomers buy up local housing for vast sums of money therefore pricing out the locals? Who sells them these vastly inflated houses? oh yes, that will be the local people wanting to make a killing from the house that's been in the family for years.

MilaMae - I know, but I don't have so much of a problem with holiday homes, because the ones I know of are let out pretty much every week of the year. And am thinking of local owners letting out e.g. parents' old house.

Would still rather see the place lived in properly, bringing kids in to local schools, more people to use things like the cinema, local shops etc though.

Already discussed this above moogster.

sorry, scanning it quick whilst bf'ing and eating dairy milk!

in my area- very few second homes (none, probably in the true sense)

but all the problems mentioned and attirubeted to second homes occur.

but you still want to blame all those things on second home owners?

Yes as full council tax payers in that area will suffer cuts due to their not being enough money in the coucnil budget

'scaryteacher, the 100% is only for the first 6 months to help people in situations like mine, or others that ordinary people find themselves stuck in for a few months. it is not indefinite.'....I know - I was a CTAX officer before I retrained as a teacher.

Doris - I have a 4 bedroom house. If I am widowed and ds has left home, then I will stay there as it is my home. The £400 per annum discount would be neither here nor there in my decision to stay.

In the last census it came out that areas are divided up by income and age. So some areas are full of old people without second hones because they are attractive to old people for a specific reason, some places are attractive to young people because they're in the most practical location for what they can afford.

Second homes exacerbate this in some areas the way specialist hospitals do in others.

A pretty area is attractive to rich people so they get second homes there and price less wealthy young families out, schools close, it stops being attractive to families becomes an expensive craft town or whatever.

It happens for lots if different reasons, but since second homes is one we can do something about, why not?

Well, PE, in my area those problems occur and the second home owners are a big part of the root cause. Different place, see? I don't think anyone on MN is thick enough to blame second home ownership for problems in places where there are no second homes. :o

And the thing is, we're not talking about punishing second home owners, unless you see council tax as a punishment. Just wishing the council wouldn't be making cuts rather than getting its dues from those who have bought houses in the area.

:o and :( at "expensive craft town" - I know the ones...

I live on the very outskirts of an expensive craft town. Our house is leased. Fortunately, the second-home/Escape to the Country twats aren't that keen on our little area, due to the massive road going through it, and to a lesser extent, the permanent wet ground.

There could easily be four or five more family houses on our row.

Scary- surely this is part of the problem tho' I realise that by the time your ds leasves home you will have a strong emotional attachement to your home however, we need to do something as the population as a whole ages there will be more and more peole staying alone in 4 bedroom properties, whilst council's continue their build, build, build mantra to deal with the housing crisi. When actually if the country as a whole used the stock we have more effectivelywe may have to build considerably less and preserve some of the agricultural greenfield sits for agriculture ( as food costs are only going to go up in future surely preserving this is important too.

However I have no idea how government would actally encourage the required cultural shift, to make it acceptable and desirable to move as you age (and requiremnets change) to a smaller property.

sorry sorry sorry, my typo's have increased as the threasd progresses

Why should someone move just because they have bought a large house that someone now deems surplus to their requirements?

I think that stamp duty is probably a large factor in people not wanting to downsize, as it contributes to making moving house a very expensive business.

because at some point, the conflict between housing stock, land and the ability to produce even a small amount of our food requirements will intensify. Something's got to give and imo that should be the occup[ation of large houses by single individuals.

Doris - I've had the house since 1992 and it is my forever house, even though I'm abroad and it's rented at the moment.

I have a theory that it is better to keep older people in their own homes for as long as possible, rather than forcing them to move. If they have bought and paid for the house then it is no-one else's business if they are 'over housed' or not.

By making someone move you are not changing anything - the one/two bed houses will still have to be built somewhere. I have no intention of ending up in an old people's ghetto. I will stay in my house in the village as long as I can.

If you owned a house in an second-home area and decided to sell and move would you sell to a would-be second-homer who offered more or to a local who offered less?

If you were left alone in a house which someone thought bigger than your needs but it was yours, you liked it, and you did not want to move, would you tell any authority figure who wanted to make you move to sod off or would you say All right, then?

Thought so in both cases. So don;t blame others who do the same and rightly.

I think they should pay all the council tax, plus an added % on top. Plus I think second homes/holiday homes should need planning permission which I would only give if the house cost more than say, £600,000 to stop second homes owners buying up all the cheaper homes, normal people could afford.

No, I'd rather see more enlightened planning policies introduced, where 1/3 of all new builds must be self builds (which would make plots of land more affordable and would mean buyers weren't paying developer's premiums, and also help the situation of developers sitting on land banks waiting for planning permission while perfectly good land is doing nothing.

I'd also rather see higher inheritance tax, because that is the main reason house prices are so high, and it doesn't reward the personal endeavour of the individual in the way that hard work does, but rather their random fortune in having wealthy parents.

I'd rather not drive out second home owners per se by making it cheaper for them to take their money and taxes abroad.

Oh, I'd also like to encourage first time buyers to buy small flats needing a bit of work first, rather than expect to move into a 3 or 4 bedroom house straight away. I still remember buying a semi detached house in a popular commuter village for £20,500 7 years ago because none of the locals wanted it as it needed work done.