To think that owning a second home to use as a holiday home is extremely selfish?

[benadrylcucumberpatch]

It would be a different story if there was a surplus of vacant properties . As it stands holiday home owners turn communities into ghost towns, inflate prices in desirable areas (many of which are rural with low wages) and displace people who would live in the property full time.

Aibu to think this is selfish and reprehensible? Why are such people not villified for taking more than they need in such an extreme way?

Just read your post TigerTooth, cross posted it seems

"my parents (or sibs) had no idea the difference between old polys/russel group unis, and there was no obvious info about it"

Russel Group wasn't even talked about when I was young - not sure it was widely known about. Former polys - yes, I knew the difference and they were given as our insurance options on the UCAS form. However, there's lots in between that I didn't know about. I thought a red brick uni was one with actual red bricks, for example.
There were university guide books and some children got advice from their parents, but there wasn't the access to the internet that you have now. Ordinary youngsters definitely weren't given the right advice.

"If you don’t earn enough to save for a deposit it doesn’t matter what the property market is doing, you won’t get a mortgage full stop."

Well, no because the deposit is a percentage of the price of the house. If someone earns 15k they can be a house at 3 times that, which would be 45 and the deposit might be 4.5k. That's affordable, but not many houses go for such a low price so obviously the cost of houses matters.
Also, some people have a deposit, but can't afford the actual mortgage payments.

Technically I agree with you...but I'd love a New Zealand style bach to decamp to for weekends and the holidays. Lots of families over there load up bikes, fishing gear and surfboards and go to to stay in the family bach that has been passed down for several generations. You can stack the fridge with beer and cook the fish you've caught and it's great.

Power - personally I think second homes just need to be taxed enough to make up for it to the local community, not necessarily banned.

"Why are such people not villified?" Crumbs, that's a bit harsh - they are just using their hard earned cash to enhance their lives. You may not agree with their choice, but there we are - it's a free world. I agree that it's annoying, but there are so many more important things to be upset about really, aren't there - like wars, famine, climate change . . . . . ?

Homelessness?

So I own a let holiday cottage on the Isle of Wight, 30 weeks per annum rental. The house typically has 4 guests. Judging by reviews a typical family will eat out on 3 ocassions during a week for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They hire bikes locally, they use a new water sports centre (startup business), they visit a theme park and they buy groceries in the village because they want to try local fish and produce. Guests visit a vineyard, ride ponies and a tree climbing business.
The letting office employs 4 locals. I employ a gardener, window cleaner, 2 cleaning ladies and the plumber visits 4 times a year.
I pay a tourism contribution annually. Visitors buy return tickets on the island ferries. The cash contribution of visitors in Cottages is considerable.
However, the Isle of Wight has 2nd Home ghost towns - Seaview is the most obvious one. The only answer to this would be to put of quota of say 30% on the sale of housing stock as 2nd homes and to limit the negative impact that 2nd homes can have, particularly the ones that aren't actively leased.

We live in a house, quite a nice house, it's spacious and has a great view. It's just in Cornwall. but at the unfashionable end of the county. We will in due course move because we'd like to live closer in travel time to areas where our family and friends live. But, when we move, we will be looking for a smaller version of what we currently have. Big rooms, but not so many. DH is 6'5" and slightly claustrophobic.That seems to involves us spending a lot of money rather than releasing capital to live on, so we may continue living in our very nice but too big house, just because there's nothing we want to buy. We may be old, but we are not going to buy a rabbit hutch designed in the 1950s.

All our actions have an impact and holiday home owners on this thread are keen to talk up the positive economic impact of their choice - the cleaners they employ and how often they eat out etc. However, they're not generally acknowledging the negative social impact their choice has. Maybe most of you just don't care but there is an impact.

The jobs that holiday homes create are largely low paid and the people that clean your houses and do the other tourism jobs need somewhere affordable to live. What percentage of holiday homes in a community is too many? In mine it's 80%. Without intervention the school will shut and there won't be anyone left to run the shop, pull the pints in the pub and clean the holiday cottages!

I'm not sure where I am on the vilificationmeter. Worked in the NHS earning very little for years (low on the meter), but worked my way up to a decent grade (suspect that takes me up the meter?). Then got made redundant (back down a bit?). Survived serious domestic violence (down further I guess) and worked bloody hard to put a roof over my family's head again. Both my parents died, one very young, the other without needing care, so I inherited a house (straight back up the vilificationmeter) and then bought a holiday home (up to the top now) but it's abroad in an area where the locals are pleased as overseas owners keep the rural area alive.

Could someone let me know where I am on the vilificationmeter, and whether they think I should be handing the second home back or not. I do let family and friends use it for nothing if that makes me slightly less hated.

Nothing is black and white, and other people's achievements and/or good fortune are surely not a reason to hate

We may be old, but we are not going to buy a rabbit hutch designed in the 1950s

Live in what you can afford whatever age you are. Hate to be in a country where someone else determined what you could spend your own money on at any age!

Xing

? Wtf??

Vilification seems harsh.

Houses without people 🙁
People without houses 🙁

@Gwenhwyfar that's why I said sideways move or direct promotion.

If someone earns 15k they can be a house at 3 times that, which would be 45 and the deposit might be 4.5k.

If they are FTBs it would be only £2250. FTBs can put down only 5%. And I've seen that for second time buyers too now, but rare.

There are no jobs in the areas where there are derelict housing. That's why they're empty. But please don't come and fill them up. Stay in the south. You're all better of there.

There never any acknowlegement a person had the chance/grades/financial circumstances to go to uni, or get a recession proof job, everything is down to hard work. The grades achieved to go to university wouldn't be down to hard work then?

Not everyone should go to uni because about 50% of any given cohort isn't really bright enough to benefit., or aren't at the stage that university is really what they want.

If you have a recession proof job, then perhaps you have worked hard to get it? My dh will retire from such a job this year, having worked hard, in some fairly arduous conditions at times, for 34 years in his first career, which gave him the requisite skills to do the recession proof job for six years. The skill set required is very niche and you need x amount of experience in the first career in order to be able to do the second job.

The recession proof job has been bloody hard work, but for the salary level, it's expected. Getting the recession proof job was due to the mix of experience , skills and qualifications that dh has, and that not many of Joe Public would have. That said, anyone could have made the same choice to follow the same career as dh in the first instance, but they didn't. In 2017 there were only 190 people in the UK doing the job that dh did in his first career, and others would have fallen at the last hurdle of qualification, so the hard work put in during career one, directly led to the recession proof job post retirement form career one.

Convoluted TL:DR, but yes, in may cases it is due to hard work, in careers that others choose not to pursue.

@XingMing Are you up the Tamar end? We move back in 3 months for good, and I am really looking forward to coming home.

I survived recession in fastfood😁
My DF always told me to keep by the food because people will always eat. Wasn't wrong.
However, I loath hospitality now.🙄

I'm from the Isle of Wight. My family lived in a village for generations. I've moved to the mainland but my brother is still there and he can't afford to live in the village any more. The second homes are empty for 11 months of the year as the owners only come for Cowes week and sailing in August. All the shops that the village used to have are now closed. The community is gone. I think there is definitely a case for limiting sales of some houses to actual residents, how you would do that in reality I don't know.

Endo- what about the houses that your family lived in when you were growing up . Perhaps he will inherit your family home ?

People should be ‘vilified’ and charged punitive taxes for the sin of spending their own hard earned, tax paid money in a perfectly legal manner.

Listen to yourself, OP. Do you deserve to live in a free country?

I just think that people wouldn’t have looked to property as an investment if pensions were better . They used to be in the 70s and people looked at houses as somewhere to live rather than an investment. I am 50 and have witnessed this change and while I agree with OP I do think people will still buy property as an investment as they feel they need to .
Having reviewed my pension recently I am aware that I need a million pound pension pot to retire reasonably modestly . I think a fair few people won’t gave that and those that can will rely on what they have in property to satisfy that . I think that why those that can will buy a second property in a desirable location and it is unfair to those that live there and can’t afford it .

Houses without people 🙁
People without houses 🙁

This needs to be a song.