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?

It’s shit and if you own one please know the locals hate you. Even if they smile and have a little chat with you.

I so want holiday "home" Really miss our cottage on mainland. We used to go for weekends and holidays. But I don't want an actual house. Log cabin. That's what I want. But not the one where you have other cabins right next to it. Nice privacy for bbqs, preferably water like brook nearby. Wonderful memories from childhood so I would love to have it again and in UK.

I do get how empty homes can impact the small community though. But I don't think log cabin would do the same. Maybe that's a holiday solution 😁

FWIW I could afford it, but I consider I only require 1 house so that is the resource I use.

That's your choice. Ours is to own a second home and support the local community for part of the year in the country we have bought a home in. Are you saying we shouldn't be allowed to do that? What would you like me to do instead with my inheritance? What would be acceptable to you?

As for village shops and facilities closing, our home in England is in a village with no second homes. The village shop and post office have both closed because the locals shop online or in the supermarket miles away. That's replicated across the country, not just villages with second homes.

"if you want to own a home, be it 1 or 2, then earn it"

Oh yes, so simple.
We've really seen total ignorance of how the other half live on this thread haven't we.

"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."

You totally missed the point of my post, which is that £45k houses don't exist except for one that would need many thousands more spent on them to make them habitable.

"I just think that people wouldn’t have looked to property as an investment if pensions were better"

Well, we can tell that you're absolutely right on this just by comparing with other European countries where being n a rental in your old age is not considered the worst thing that can happen to you as pensions are good.

No, I said he couldn't buy in the village due to all the second homes. I didn't say he couldn't buy at all

Basically he could buy a house because it was sold to someone else, he couldn’t afford it or was outbid. No difference from any house purchase most people are involved in.
I fancy living in Mayfair but sadly rich Russians have moved in with more buying power than me 🙄.

It’s shit and if you own one please know the locals hate you. Even if they smile and have a little chat with you

Rubbish - most sane people do not hate others because they own a house they don’t!

It’s shit and if you own one please know the locals hate you. Even if they smile and have a little chat with you

I assume all the hate filled locals won’t sell their homes to anybody other than a local, and are prepared to take a financial loss to do so? Of course they are not! The sellers - the locals - are in charge of this, not the buyers!

“It’s shit and if you own one please know the locals hate you. Even if they smile and have a little chat with you”

Rubbish. My family have made loads of really good friends over the years with weekends and holiday residents.

Parochial village hostility to incomers is another matter.

I assume all these people objecting to second homes also object to homes bought to be rented out as holiday cottages? In one town I visited in Cornwall, practically every house had a sign on the front stating which letting agency it was rented out by. There barely seemed to be any actual, lived-in homes.

As for village shops and facilities closing, our home in England is in a village with no second homes. The village shop and post office have both closed because the locals shop online or in the supermarket miles away. That's replicated across the country, not just villages with second homes

This is very true.
In some areas it is newcomers to the villages with new skills reviving them. I know of several where newcomers have opened community run pubs and shops - and guess who volunteer and bring their custom the most - yes, the newcomers, not the locals.

@ Skinnychip. Yes you are partially right. A nurse might work hard but not usually as hard as the junior doctor who has also worked harder and given up more to get the grades. A band 5 nurse who moans about tough shifts and low pay, they have great fun with their ex school mates at weekends and live with their boyfriend of two years in rented accommodation before becoming pregnant; the band 5 nurse who smiles and commits to positivity is sponsored for a masters degree and gains early promotion to band 6 and 7. Then they might move across the country to do a specialist role with additional training and paid for themselves to do an MBA. Which one I suspect going to earn over £100k by the time they’re 40?

I can’t see it’s so difficult to understand that whilst some have a gold plated future (which most of us want for our own children), lots of successful people have simply worked harder. That means more hours, moving across the country, more qualifications, maybe studying and working at the same time or doing two or three jobs. The band 5 nurse who also does an extra agency shift in a care home a week to save for a deposit or to pay for a masters is likely to be more successful in the longer term.

The chap in the car fact could have had different opportunities if he bothered to take them. What stopped him doing an OU degree? What stopped him doing online GCSEs or vocational courses? What stopped him applying for promotion as many times as it took to get it?

Now yes, we absolutely need band 5 nurses, cleaners, retail assistants. They are doing honest jobs and deserve respect. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t choose to do more and earn more. It is a choice but for some, the sacrifices needed for greater financial success are too much. I mentioned the £315k salary of an NHS CEO on another thread recently; she started out life working on the sweet counter at Woolworths in Swansea. Pure determination and effort. Andrews Morris recently retired CEO started out as a hospital porter.

Just doing your 37.5 hours a week isn’t hard. It isn’t likely to bring huge success but it is a choice. One of our cleaners has a holiday home and earns more than a band 6.

@StoneofDestiny

Nah, not rubbish. My DH’s family live in a town in ireland on the wild Atlantic way. The locals in the pub all talk shit about a) the people with second homes there who push prices up and leave it a ghost town in winter and b) the loud Americans who come over and identify themselves proudly as Irish.

That said my mother has had a holiday home in a hamlet in Normandy for over 25 years and my dad has a flat in Madrid near where his sister lives. They both spend 6 months here, 6 there. My mum rents out most of her UK property (rents her house and lives in the annexe). It’s always been her retirement plan.

No idea where I am on this I can see points on both sides.

Parochial village hostility to incomers is another matter

Yes - experienced a lot of that over about 6 house moves yet have never owned a second home!

The idea that holiday homes benefit local businesses is a joke.Many village shops have closed because the villages are empty in winter.

I do think the idea of house confiscation is ridiculous though. One of my neighbours here in the SE inherited a tumble down house in Norfolk which she grew up in, let’s anyone stay there for free so it’s rarely empty. I could never endorse stripping her of her family home.

But maybe tourism tax is a good idea. Or actually ring fencing the extra 3% stamp duty towards that community, or affordable housing. Assuming it just goes into a general pot now?

@Cherrypavlova, your hypothesis fails to recognise that the system only allows for a small minority of high earners, essentially it’s a pyramid structure. Everyone can’t be at the top. There’s a tiny handful of nurses earning £100k, all fannying around with jobs that mean they wouldn’t recognise a patient if they fell over them. Meantime, here in the real world, we need nurses to actually do what they’re trained for - look after sick people.

Some of the posts here appal me. I had no idea how out of touch with reality some people are.

You totally missed the point of my post, which is that £45k houses don't exist except for one that would need many thousands more spent on them to make them habitable.

There are houses under 50k which are perfectly livable and can be done up slowly over the time where I am. Obviously now we are hitting the area price divide here.

Not everyone can be at the top clearly but using that as an excuse to not even try is what’s depressing.

If you want something you bust your backside to do whatever is within your ability to get it. That includes positioning yourself through hard work, training, dedication etc so that you’re amongst the best candidates when an opportunity does become available.

Why should you only be allowed to buy a home in a lovely area if you were born there?

I grew up in a council house but now have a lovely holiday home - should I be forced to live where I grew up instead?

My husband and his brother were a year apart at school - both similar intelligence & opportunities but the brother wanted to go out all the time and not do any studying - he can’t afford a holiday home but that was through his own actions / choice as they both had the same opportunities

I have friends that complain that they can’t get on the property ladder but they have spent the last 20 years going on countless 5 star holidays etc. We prioritised buying a house and didn’t go on holidays when we first got married - now they think it’s unfair

Life isn’t fair - I didn’t want to spend weekends studying when all my friends at the time were going out but I did and I am glad I made that sacrifice.

The idea that holiday homes benefit local businesses is a joke.Many village shops have closed because the villages are empty in winter.

Village shops are closing in every village, you can't blame second home owners for that. The last four villages I've lived in don't have village shops any more. They all did in the past, post offices, village store, fruit and veg shops, sweet shops. All closed now, none of them villages for second home owners

Alsohuman of course only a few get to the top. There are more than a handful of nurses on over £100k. Let’s not suggest it’s harder than it is.That would make people think there’s no point trying. It’s just another excuse to say there’s no jobs.

I can think of around 250 in NHS in England alone that’s before adding in Wales, Scotland, Norther Island, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Malta and other places it’s possible to move to.
Then there’s the independent sector who employ many nurses on £100k plus both in acute healthcare and specialist services.
Quangos employ a fair few and a number of CEOs turn into CEOs and COOs.
If you want the salary and are determined, high paid nursing jobs are out there. Just like high paid teaching jobs. Nobody said it was easy though.

so if you come to sell your house you'd rather sell it massively below market value to help someone local onto the property market ?

I very much doubt it - it's basic supply and demand , you'll have no doubt made a killing in terms of the value of your property due to surge in popularity , people can't have it both ways

@Cherrypavlova, your hypothesis fails to recognise that the system only allows for a small minority of high earners, essentially it’s a pyramid structure. Everyone can’t be at the top. There’s a tiny handful of nurses earning £100k, all fannying around with jobs that mean they wouldn’t recognise a patient if they fell over them. Meantime, here in the real world, we need nurses to actually do what they’re trained for - look after sick people.

It's true that we need nurses, but I have no idea why anyone is willing to be one given their pay. It's almost verging on altruism - WHY?

I have gone through about 3 cleaner candidates in London over the past six weeks, all earning £13 or more an hour cash in hand (none of them any good). I guess you missed my point about my old cleaner (extremely shrewd, no longer a cleaner) taking industrial cleaning jobs on the weekend and buying 2 flats in Krakow with her husband (a builder).