If you're from Cornwall, how do you personally feel about tourists and second home owners?

[Beerlovingwalker]

Genuinely curious really, as an outsider that loves Cornwall.

On the one hand, it must be nice to know that so many people love the beauty of your county and I'm sure it's nice to share it. However, it also must be difficult to adjust from living fairly quietly in the Autumn/winter months, to suddenly have to share your space with so many million tourists and second home owners in the summer.

@Gwenhwyfar

"Maybe the answer is no more tourism unless you're in a tent or camper van."

Hotel tourism is better for the local area isn't it. Some people travel in camper vans etc. with all their food already with them and contribute nothing to the local economy.

But, herein lies a problem. If tourists were reduced to camping then the tourist money would reduce dramatically which would create more local unemployment.

There simply aren't enough hotels to cater for the volume of tourists so moneymakers would offer stupid money to locals/farmers for spare fields and build hotels and B&Bs on them.
A bit like the Costa del Sol really?!

Yes, property prices would fall ( which would be good for locals) but so much of Cornwall depends on tourism.

Letting the cottage out to tourists so registering as a business is a way of avoiding council tax on second homes in some areas

Many ( including mine) ARE genuine businesses at least here in Wales where the rules are stricter. We are required to prove letting of 170 days a year in order to qualify for business rate listing.

I employ local people to clean and maintain the property. So far this last year I've pumped nearly £10,000 into the local economy and that doesn't include the spending of my guests in the local pubs, cafes and restaurants.

This is far far more than I've spent where I live. We rarely eat out and never visit tourist attractions at home. My own garden furniture is falling to bits but guests have a lovely new set to enjoy this year from a local carpenter. My home electrics aren't tested each year nor do I pay a cleaner £120 a week to do my own cleaning and laundry. We have a policy of supporting local businesses as far as possible so all replacement items are bought locally and believe me - that's quite a bill for repairs and replacements each year.

I'm pretty typical of many holiday let owners - without us there'd be a lot less work and income for people you wouldn't think benefited from tourism.

Letting the cottage out to tourists so registering as a business is a way of avoiding council tax on second homes in some areas.

I may well be wrong, but don't you have to either pay council tax OR business rates, based on your average number of letting weeks each year (not sure if actual weeks booked or just weeks offered/advertised as available) - and neither is especially cheaper than the other?

Elphame x-posted and explained it far, far better than my mumblings - and from a perspective of knowledge and experience. Thanks, Elphame - that's very interesting to see it all detailed.

1/3 of my development is second home owners. We have plenty of permanent residents elsewhere in town but I can see how ghost town like it was here by the sea - and last year they brought covid with them to boot!

Some of them are now planning on staying year round ive heard so they are exchanging their apartments with a view for larger homes driving up prices

@ThursdayLastWeek

Ah good oh, a poster who assumes the people of Cornwall are all of a single opinion.

I believe second homes are unethical anywhere.

Ditto this!

Wha do you think about owning homes abroad and being a UK resident

@minniemomo

1/3 of my development is second home owners. We have plenty of permanent residents elsewhere in town but I can see how ghost town like it was here by the sea - and last year they brought covid with them to boot!

Some of them are now planning on staying year round ive heard so they are exchanging their apartments with a view for larger homes driving up prices

Why shouldn't they buy the property of their choice?

@woodhill

Wha do you think about owning homes abroad and being a UK resident

Interesting that Spain has kicked out thousands of Brits in recent months. Maybe Cornwall should petition it's County Council to do the same with second home owners.

Second home owners are a drain on the community. A high proportion of second homes in a village leads to services being lost (GP, post office etc.), and they don't contribute much, if anything. Frankly, they're not welcome here in the slightest.

And I can completely see why, having read this thread through.

Watched both episodes of the Simon Reeve documentary this evening. I agree with PP that it is excellent.

Beavers for the win!

I wamt to stress that I'm not anti 'incomer' though. I'm an incomer myself! And I've never experienced or seen any resentment expressed about people who move to this area to make it their long term home, to live and work here. People who want to make their lives here are made very welcome in my experience, because that's a very different thing compared to just buying a holiday home.

@minniemomo

1/3 of my development is second home owners. We have plenty of permanent residents elsewhere in town but I can see how ghost town like it was here by the sea - and last year they brought covid with them to boot!

Some of them are now planning on staying year round ive heard so they are exchanging their apartments with a view for larger homes driving up prices

So now you're actually objecting to permanent incomers making their first home where you are?

I live in North West Wales and I really hate second homes here, love the tourists as they add extra flavour to the town and I love to see it bustling and the youngsters having employment in hotels/bars etc.
The second homes just sit there desolate for 48 weeks a year, don't add to the community and irritated me hugely by sneaking over the border during lockdowns etc

What percentage of time would it be okay to spend in more than one home?

For an author, for example, who wants to spend say 6 months a year in quiet seclusion writing and then 6 months in London promoting their work?

Or for someone who is running a business which has branches in 2 or 3 different parts of the country and wants to spend equal amounts of time during the year in each place?

Or someone who spends the ski season working in Scotland and the summer running a diving business in Cornwall?

@MadMadMadamMim

The trouble with this thread is it's full of people who actually live in Cornwall or similar touristy areas explaining very clearly why second home owners are a massive problem and hugely resented by locals.

Which is what the OP asked for. Personal opinions from the people it affects.

And then we've got all the people with money who are clearly second home owners - or like to stay in posh expensive holiday cottages - arguing why they aren't destroying local communities and justifying why places like Cornwall need to suck it up. Or arguing it's the same in London.

I live in a tourist area. I don't know any local who doesn't hate second home owners and the people that have bought up houses to rent out as Air BnB. They tolerate 'tourists' in caravan parks because they spend money and don't take our housing, even though it makes the summers over crowded and not much fun. They loathe people that have bought up property and priced the locals out.

I don't know anyone who lives in the countryside that believes second home owners are very welcome. They aren't. The only people that think this are people with money, who it doesn't affect. So if you have a second home in a nice area next to a retired bank manager they are probably pleasant to you. But the 20 something working in the butchers hates your guts because you've contributed to them being priced out of the village they grew up in.

Thank you! I was starting to think I was going mad. Rural areas just don't have the same infrastructure as London, and most rural dwellers don't have the options or money as second home owners. So to use my previous example, having to walk 8 miles to your nearest shop because the local one has closed because of second home owners is likely to be an issue - and it's not an issue that Londoners are likely to face. Which is not to say that Londoners don't have issues with being priced out of the market, but that's a totally different argument.

So to give a Norfolk example... my cousin lives in a small town which gets overwhelmed by tourists every year. But she's totally fine with it, likes it even, because the rest of the year there are enough people living there, working, providing services, etc. But she had to move there because the town she grew up in is now about 75% second home owners, and there were no jobs, let alone careers. No shop, transport etc. But it's 'much sought after' because of its 'unspoilt location'. Whereas her town now is full of people who actually DO live there, and know they rely on tourists.

Own one, rent elsewhere?
I honestly don’t believe anyone needs more than one residence.

@ThursdayLastWeek

Own one, rent elsewhere? I honestly don’t believe anyone needs more than one residence.

Who owns the place they will rent?

Someone in the same situation?

I don’t know, it’s an entirely fictional premise!

@ThursdayLastWeek

Someone in the same situation?

I don’t know, it’s an entirely fictional premise!

But it's not - I'm sure it's not a huge percentage of the total population but it is a growing area where people create more flexible career situations for themselves and want to live in more than one location across the year.

In a few years when my DD is away at college, I will be in exactly this position. At the moment I am in the USA but I will want to start splitting my time between there and the UK (where I am from) - some years it will be 6 months in each country, some years it will be more in one than the other.

Because I've been thinking about this for a while I am part of a large Facebook community of people who live and work in a similar way - most are self employed with a job or business which travels easily wherever they go - they are either older with grown children, childless or homeschoolers, so they are not tied to a school district.

I agree it's not the same in London. It's worse.

Rural areas just don't have the same infrastructure as London
And? Not much use to the priced out Londoners is it.

Two thirds of all families in temporary accommodation are in London. Homelessness is worse there anywhere else in the whole country.

So, no, Cornwall isn't special or more deserving of sympathy wrt house prices or second homes.

At least someone is using their second homes even if only a few times a year. Many second homes in London are left empty as investments for years.

Is it not possible to condemn BOTH the second home owners buying homes in national parks, AND the foreign investors buying London flats and leaving them empty? I disagree with both equally.

I've not got an opinion on second home owners, as it's not something I think about.

I live in a holiday destination town and I feel the place comes alive when people come down, it has a nice feel in the summer. I do t mind at all.

I do t mind at all.

That should say don't mind at all.

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

Is it not possible to condemn BOTH the second home owners buying homes in national parks, AND the foreign investors buying London flats and leaving them empty? I disagree with both equally.

It is definitely possible yes. Unfortunately some posters seem determined to think that places like Cornwall are special, and the situation with high house prices and priced out locals is unique to them. Oh - and bash put upon Londoners at the same time (any excuse for some).