To think there would be less of a housing crisis if people stopped buying second homes!

[Okunoshima]

Before anyone says anything, I understand that some people have second homes as private rentals and understand the need for rental properties

What I'm talking about is people buying second homes as holiday homes to live in on weekends/holidays/lend out to their friends.

Where I live there are a huge number of houses used solely for this purpose, and a lot of these houses are 2 beds that would make great homes for couples or families to occupy permanently. Instead they sit empty most of the time, while residents are left with the option of trying to buy (not affordable for many) or trying to find something in the tiny pool of private rentals available.

I don't understand why people can't just use hotels/B&Bs etc. They would be contributing to the local economy by doing so, and creating employment.

Here are a few reasons...

• Long term investment opportunity
• Don't like hotels and wants a holiday home
• Opens to family, friends and opportunity for side cash if they advertise on air bnb etc.

-investment for a retirement property with intention to sell the one they live in now / pass on to their kids.

I'm sure there are a million other reasons, but I am not adverse to it. TBH I would be more concerned with the investors that have hundreds of properties which they let out because its actually those people who boost the price of affordable homes for their own gain.

People for to do something with the money they have. If they can afford it and they want it, they will buy. It's the privilege of money.

I agree op. I think we need punitive taxes on second homes, planning permission for a house to be used that way. Don't get me started on 'buy to sit' ghost blocks in London.

YANBU, OP. I live in a rural area, close to National Parks and beaches. So many villages here now are half holiday homes , mostly small cottages. The pubs are closing, the schools are closing, the village shops are closing. Young couples have to move to the nearest town as they can't afford the village prices. The result of that is that the village dies.

It is very sad.

snackosaurus your comments are ridiculous.

@Snackasaurus

Whilst I agree to some extent that there's a housing crisis, I think a lot of people who say they can't afford to get on the property ladder could if they chose starter homes instead of 4 bed detached houses on new build estates. My DH and I made a LOT of sacrifices to afford our home; we rarely ate out, we have never been on holiday, most of the things in our home are gifted or second hand. A lot of people I know claiming they can't afford a house (pre covid) used to eat out frequently, go on holidays, weekends away, nights out. They are in designer clothes and drive newish cars...

It's really area specific. I got 3 bed for under 100k. Taht would buy a caravan somewhere else. I do agree with you in a princip. But yeah. In some areas it is quite of out people's hands like this.

I remember Bishops Avenue in London in the 1980, huge houses with 20 or 30 people squatting. The squatters were all evicted and the houses are now all just empty with a security guard making sure NOBODY ever lives in them. I would have absolutely no objection to the squatters being evicted if someone moved into these houses, but they didn't, it just seems wrong for people to be made homeless to a house can sit empty. I'm not particularly against people having second homes, but am at the moment because so many people don't even have one place to live.

Not everyone wants to stay in a b&b and if they have the money to own a second home then why not.

Well, several posters have explained rather eloquently why not.

If you lived in the Lakes and your village school was closing because few families live there permanently, or if you were in Cornwall and wanted to live within 20 miles of your family, you might think differently. Maybe you wouldn’t be saying, oh, it’s their money, let them spend it as they like, what’s the harm!

Less of an ocean pollution crisis if we used less plastic, less make-up.

Less of a pollution if we disposed of it properly and re used. Plastic can be very good overall. Our problem is that we don't dispose of it correctly and still have some which cannot be recycled in places

Op when you say housing crisis do you mean, not enough rental properties, not enough council properties or the fact some areas are too expensive for people
To get on the ladder in those areas or all of the above?

Jut wondering because it's all a problem in some areas.

However not where I live. There are lots of rentals, lots of council properties and you can get a three bed terrace for less than 80k in some areas.

However, £80k is still out of reach for some.

Totally agree. And new estates being built should have a much higher propertion of smaller-footprint homes that are priced within reach of the average local family or first time buyer. Every estate I see built is full of latge, 4+bed houses with 2 or 3 smaller, "affordable" (crappily built) houses bolted on to pretend to address local need.
My town is swamped with couples that have sold up their flats in nearby cities and bought huge new builds that are being thrown up on several sites. Local families cannot afford a £500k mortgage and are stuck renting, in a rental market that is spiralling upwards.
And yes, there's a lot of second homes (cottages) in the prettier areas just outside town.

Incidentally I don’t live in an area of outstanding natural beauty but I can absolutely see why people who were born in those places would be annoyed by holiday homes.

I was in Reykjavik a couple of years ago on business and a colleague told me that it’s incredibly difficult even to rent a flat in town, let alone buy, because all the flats have been snapped up for Airbnb. Same problem and easy to understand the locals’ position.

If people don't have enough for a deposit they can't buy a house even if there are empty houses. The banks have very stringent rules and if people don't meet them they won't get a mortgage. No good blaming others if you don't have enough for a deposit.

@TheInfected

It's not second home owners it's career landlords, buy to let wankers.

Not in attractive holiday areas it isn’t. In the National Parks and coastal areas it’s second homers who turn up with a carload of groceries and don’t even contribute to the local economy.

caring Prices (and deposits) would not be so high if incomers buying second homes did not inflate the cost of houses.
I've recently lived somewhere with about 70% second home ownership. Yes, it was wonderfully scenic and we had seasonal inrushes of people enthusing all over the place until the bad weather started. But otherwise, it really was not good for communities.

Second homes seem to me to be more of a problem in certain places. I would support something along the lines of that in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, where houses under a certain size/rateable value are reserved for local people.

Nothing to do with developers building massive numbers of large 4 or 5 bedroom luxury new builds, using up all the development land for houses that are unaffordable to first time buyers?

Also nothing to do with parents giving their lucky children large deposits so they can outbid other ftbs? I remember trying to buy a flat in Edinburgh and constantly being outbid by other couples the same age or younger (we all viewed at the same time) who were unlikely to be earning six figure sums so must have been gifted the money. In fact, I know lots of people who have been bought houses outright by their doting parents.

I don't know the degree of impact of second home ownership on the housing shortages, but it has certainly destroyed the villages around me. It's heartbreaking seeing communities disappearing and schools closing, but then I come on Mumsnet and I'm reminded that it's so that those poor souls who don't want to use hotels and b&bs can go on their holidays, and it doesn't seem so bad

Most places where I am are second homes. I think unless you actually live somewhere like this you really won't understand the detrimental effect. Loss of services, we only have one jobcentre now in the county and disabled assessments face to face are almost two hours away by car, there's no support for disabled people claiming benefits as they've been closed down. Supermarkets won't deliver where I live as its "not worth it". Most GP surgeries in the county are one or two GPs only and rapidly diminishing. The "hospital" isn't remotely like any other - go to a&e and get referred to another county and sent via taxi you must pay for to be treated (including broken bones and emergency eye care - I know someone who went blind during lockdown and couldn't afford the taxi so never got seen). Schools closing leaving nothing for home owners with children.

The closure of the services then means no one buys to live in the area either. No one would choose to be miles/hours away from medical care. Out of work? No job club or whatever it's called now here. You can forget being able to stream tv etc online in most of the county as its a dead zone for mobiles - the phones the police use are like bricks and even then they are not completely covered.

The government recently announced they won't be putting anymore money into trying to get broadband in rural Wales because "there's no point".

When covid hit our "newspaper" (I use the word lightly) was full of enraged second home owners not allowed to come and hide out from covid here. Services closed in March are still closed here, even in summer they never reopened and again the paper full of complaints about nothing being open.

I think holiday homes should be restricted numbers per area. Not banned altogether necessarily. Perhaps planning permission should be needed for houses that aren't a main residence to give councils control over the number and location, depending on the situation in the local area.
It wouldn't solve the housing crisis but would hugely help communities in rural tourist areas

dumb idea part 94
how the hell can you car share if your all working and going in different directions at different hours, buy to rent should be banned

It’s not ideal. But where do you draw the line? What about people that have to split their time between countries. Or need to buy a second home briefly as time is of the essence.
Is it just the middle classes people have a problem with? Are we going to stop the super rich and famous having homes around the country. What about the royals ? What about people that have to work in london but have their family settled elsewhere?

A lot of second homes are "second" because they are not near where there is a lot of work. So I'm not sure that they would really help the housing crunch in the places people need to work.

But a lot of second homes in a community tends to be very detrimental to that community.