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?

Can I ask you where you go on holiday yourself and how do you tend to relate to other guests? Do you observe them a lot and make little judgements about them?

I would be too busy enjoying my holiday, which isn't something I get to do often, to be observing and judging people. What a bizarre scenario you are imagining.

Well, obviously you do a house swap, thus ensuring that no houses are harmed rendered empty during the course of the holiday.

I am yet to be convinced that earning is always directly proportional to hard work....but I'm sure mote people will try to persuade me otherwise.
Take estate agents for example or other people that work on comission...does an estate agent in Chelsea work 100 times harder to sell a house than one in Burnley for example ? In fact if selling in an undesirable (not saying Burnley is btw, just using it as an example of property being much lower priced) area, you might think they actually work harder to big up a house's potential/usps.

Not RtT so replying to original OP.
Yes! I wholeheartedly agree.
I would also include people who ride the property market and remortgage to buy a second property to let as an investment.
DH and I were lucky enough to buy in London and our house is worth eye watering amounts more than we paid for it.
We could cash in by buying other properties and renting/reselling.
We do pretty well investing in ethical companies instead.
We all need to think about the communities we live in and want our children to grow up in.

Skinnychip

Shhh... You're not allowed to say any of us were born with any privileges. We were all born equal. All locations of this country are equal and real estate is the same everywhere. The flat in Chelsea deserves more money because it is in an area where people work much harder than anywhere else, you know Londoners are much more hard-working/deserving than people up north. 🤦

Also see:
Parents fronting the deposit to buy houses in uni towns with their children’s student loans.
Single people living in huge family homes and refusing to downsize.
Landlords demanding massive deposits and not letting to tenants who need help from the local council - fleeing abuse, just been fired, marriage break up etc.

Add to all of that the removal of legal aid for housing cases.
It’s a massive shitstorm and anyone who has a comfortable home to live in and buys another one for shit, giggles and profits is either an arsehole or has a disorder which leaves them wholly lacking in empathy.

It’s just a shame you’ve invested all your hard-earned money from your hard work (I’m imagining coal mining or similar) that you can’t buy yourselves a dictionary to find the meaning of selfish. So I’m going to help you out. It means to prioritise your needs ahead of the needs of others. Why not just say yes, I put the needs of myself and my family first and I’m happy with that choice?
You don’t care about young people getting on the housing ladder, you care about your own children getting a house. And why not? It’s a free country. But don’t delude yourselves.

Neither an arsehole nor lacking in empathy. However my family will ALWAYS come first and the rewards of our hard work will be going to our DC not some stranger.

And I refuse to apologize for that 😊

Herocomplex It’s just a shame you’ve invested all your hard-earned money from your hard work (I’m imagining coal mining or similar) that you can’t buy yourselves a dictionary to find the meaning of selfish. So I’m going to help you out. It means to prioritise your needs ahead of the needs of others. Why not just say yes, I put the needs of myself and my family first and I’m happy with that choice? You don’t care about young people getting on the housing ladder, you care about your own children getting a house. And why not? It’s a free country. But don’t delude yourselves.

You know, if we didn't pay tax, I would agree with you.

Do you also think that people who pay more tax, or higher rate tax, are less selfish than those who don't? Particularly those who could work harder but choose not to?

The trouble is if you’re PAYE you don’t really have a choice, so it’s not a moral issue. Most people I know with money plan their affairs to minimise their tax burden, that’s up to them if it’s legal.
I think everyone should pay income tax (and earn enough to pay it) as it gives everyone a stake in society. I think most economists think that very high rates of tax are a disincentive.

But if you mean if I pay high rates of tax does it absolve me of behaving altruistically in other ways, then no, I personally don’t think it does.

I don't begrudge you your success, congratulations. I will say you do have another privilege that others do not always have though.
Intelligence. Especially when it comes to being entrepreneurial enough to flip property

I don’t think I am particularly intelligent. I haven’t got any qualifications. The only thing I have taken on board is the fact no one is going to hand you anything on a plate. Decide what you want then work out a way to get it. I do think most things are achievable or at least getting somewhere near to your target.

What really annoys me is when people say

So a care worker can just up and move, adding petrol costs and an extra hour or so at each end of their working day? Some you haven’t a clue how other people live, have you? Talk about blinded by privilege

Why can’t a care worker move.
Everyone else has to commute, what makes a care worker so special.

If you want a home and you can’t afford even the tiniest and grottiest place in the area you are in you either do multiple jobs cut your spending to the bone on everything and sell anything you can get your hands on to save up a deposit big enough to get a mortgage that you can afford to pay. Or you just get a job in a cheaper area and move.

Ultimately it is that simple

We have moved around the country following work. We didn’t particularly want to live in most of the towns and cities of the UK but if we wanted money to feed and house ourselves then go where the work was, was something we had to do.

Working harder isn’t directly proportional to earnings, it is more about how you earn.

For instance someone on £5 per hour in a 9-5 job has the potential to out earn someone who earns £8 per hour in a 9-5 job but because of the added responsibility that comes with the extra £3 per hour is expected to stay till 7pm each evening or get in early each morning or come into the office on a Saturday for a few hours.

The one on £5 per hour knows they can leave dead on 5pm, they can then start working an hour later in a 2nd job and work each evening till 11pm

They have all day on Saturday to work as well as Sunday.

They also haven’t the mental load that might come with the higher paying job.

I do believe someone on NMW can buy a property. It all depends on the amount of hours that they do.

Well I guess we are all selfish.
The only people in my car today were my family. I shopped in the supermarket, for my family to eat. The only people I've interacted with today beyond the mundane interactions, were my family and friends. The only people sleeping in my house tonight are my family.
Yes, my family give to charity, but it's less than we give to ourselves. We volunteer lots - but we get as much out of it as we put in. The only people whose holiday we will pay for this year, is the one our family will be on. My wardrobe is stuffed full and charity shops will benefit from that eventually - but only after I've had 'the best' out of the clothes.

I've moved from sink council estate as a child to extremely desirable house and area, renovating rundown properties nobody wanted, living in areas where a big commute was needed for work, changing jobs and suffering in jobs just to get on while getting further and further away from family and friends. All 'selfish' choices to ultimately get me where I wanted to be and I believe everyone has the right to make these choices.
Just as some people have chosen only to consider living in the village of their birth and complain if the housing stock can't accommodate them when they are adults, or to think only locals born in a desirable area should get to live there.
I don't have, or aspire to have, a second home - but those who have them can't be held responsible for the real housing crisis - homelessness. That is a whole different level of seriousness than not getting to live in the place of your birth.

Tbh I don't think we have to worry about homeless figures after 2025
Bit medieval though....

Vacant housing is an increasing problem and is adding not only to the housing shortage but also to the destruction of swathes of our green belt, contributing to poor air quality and also flooding and reduction in biodiversity. Once it's gone, we'll never get it back 😢🌻🌸🌼🌺🌳

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241223

I do believe someone on NMW can buy a property. It all depends on the amount of hours that they do.

Plenty of people struggle to make rent on min wage.

usernamealreadytaken

Thank you for linking this! Signed !

Stoneofdestiny. I agree with you but I don’t personally see it as being selfish. Your family should always be your priority, end of. One of the biggest issues for my children will be getting on the property ladder which I don’t believe they will do without our help.

I also don’t think it’s selfish to properly prepare for and fund your retirement either, in fact I think you’re absolutely mad if you could do so but choose not to. Who are you expecting to pay for your care?

For those who think that banning home ownership is the key in solving homelessness, I assume that any of you with a spare room did not leave it empty last night but offered it up?

Of course you didn’t and, even if you had, do you actually think you just solved the problem overnight? We know it’s a tad more complex than that.

I am yet to be convinced that earning is always directly proportional to hard work....but I'm sure mote people will try to persuade me otherwise
What does hard work mean? Having gone from doing entry jobs, to middle management, to top mamagement role, 'hard work' is proportional to responsibilities and therefore the stress attached to it. It's about being in a position to regularly putting others at risk and the consequences of these risks. It's about decision making. This why doctors get paid more than nurses. Nurses mainly follow a clear script, doctors have to make decision that can be the difference between life and death. Same with air traffic controllers and pilots vs. Cabin attendance.

It is also a fact that mental demand through concentration can be much more tiring than physical work. Of course, it's not the only determinant of income, supply and demand will also impact, but in my case, the above is the reason why I opted to go back to middle management because the stress of the responsibilities that came with a higher level job weren't worth the extra funding. It's the reason why there is actually a recruitment crisis for many top jobs. Without sounding patronising, it is hard to imagine until you are there yourself.

And I agree that using your view on selfishness Hero, you are really saying that everyone is selfish in their own ways, which actually is totally true, you are just choosing to target one aspect of it and group of people. I could come up with many reason why another group of our society are being selfish and the impact it has on other people.

I am second ow home owner

Almost.
Almost means that I use my parents' second home because due to regulations of the city the houses I would buy are not elegible as second homes, you have to be residing in this seaside resort. It is not in the UK.

I would LOVE to do so and wait for my retirement to be able to live there permanently. It is a beautiful small city but it offers no jobs, no infrastructure as suitable secondary schools no nothing but landscape.

That why I have and always had to work in big cities. Causing me headaches and I am getting more and more panicked when I have to use the metro in the rush hours and the escalator goes downstairs. Anyhow, no use complainig, I have to earn money, DH and I do have 4 Kids, three of them studying abroad

We are longing to leave…...

Just one more thing about ‘no one hands you anything on a plate’
I’m afraid they do though.
Because of my skills and networking ability I have been approached twice, out of the blue and offered a job. Interviewed, but no other candidate. When we got married we were given a financial gift which got us started on the housing ladder. Both my DH and I got free Uni and post grad. We now regularly visit and stay with friends all over the world for holidays. I have friends in all sorts of organisations that I can contact and ask for advice and help for me and my family.
I have benefitted in so many ways with so little effort. I’m not unusual in my group, lots of people are like me, some with inherited wealth who don’t have to work at all.
I don’t take any of this for granted, because actually at the end of the day, it’s not fair. I’ve just been lucky. I’m not better than anyone else.

I honestly don’t begrudge anyone a second home and I hope you all enjoy your holidays.

No I don’t believe anyone has the right to live in the village they grew up in, as nice as that would be. I do think affordable homes should be available in areas of high tourism within commuting distance of towns and they are already, but they are going to mean leaving the area many grew up in and moving say 15 miles away. They also will still require hard work to afford them but it is possible even on a low wage. Our two bedroom flat in Camborne cost £115K and we put a 10% deposit down when DH and I were 23. We also used help to buy. It is a deprived area and a flat isn’t for everyone but a lot of local expectations are too high.

I don’t believe locals should be forced to move to large cities to find higher paid work, obviously they can if they want to but there are jobs needed in every part of the country and the workers need homes. Home ownership is a luxury and while renting is not ideal, it is still a home. Cornwall Council does acknowledge the impact of holiday homes and is already working to prevent the overrun of holiday homes but the Cornish have to accept the county is expensive to live in and everyone could stay if they were prepared to move to a cheaper area.

In regards to working hard, I don’t think it’s as simple as some are making out. When I first started working in accounts 10 years ago I earned 30% above minimum wage with just my apprenticeship as experience, my job role was easy going and I worked Saturdays in a second job too.

Sorry I posted to soon.

I then learned new processes and skills and did overtime and now do 3 times as much work as I did 10 years ago, but only earn 10% above minimum wage. Dispute glowing reviews I’ve never worked in a company which has offered accounts staff a pay rise, even when other staff have left and I have taken on their work too. The only chance I have at bettering myself is to move companies and go in at a higher rate of pay.

My DH on the other hand has done the same manual job for the last 10 years and has had a bonus and pay rise every year. He does the exact same tasks he has always done and now earns more than me, plus gets a uniform to wear. My company expects us to dress nice and put in unpaid hours. So it’s not all cut and dry.

You’re right you shouldn’t take opportunity for granted. That’s exactly all it is, an opportunity and it’s up to you what you do with it. The outcome isn’t handed to you on a plate and that’s what makes the difference in life.

You were approached because of your skills, if you didn’t have those it doesn’t matter who you know you won’t make a success of it. You still have to work hard and achieve.

My children will be helped onto the housing ladder because of our hard work, I get that gives them an advantage but it’s only due to sheer graft and tenacity and they will still need to achieve and work hard themselves to pay the mortgage and the bills.

No one should have the right to take that away which is what has been suggested on this thread.

Despite, not dispute

Transform. But you’ve answered your own question in a way, you could earn more money by moving companies. What is it that’s stopping you doing that?