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.

I'm in south Devon and frankly I'd love to get rid of both. Both strangle the life out of communities. This weekend alone I have had more than 5 run ins with non locals - refusing to reverse their cars length into a pull in so I could get past with a trailer with livestock in. People being asked not to feed my horses over the gate. A hit and run with someone knocking my wing mirror off my parked car. Being blocked in on my land by walkers for hours who had parked across my gate. And then there's the bloody cyclists!
I'm done with them. I work bloody hard to keep a roof over my head which is insanely high. I lost 4hours of paid business due to being blocked in which I cannot afford.

So I no tourists and second home owners are not welcome. Please do not come to Devon.

to suddenly have to share your space with so many million tourists and second home owners in the summer

The real problem is that second home owners mean that it's impossible for Cornish people to stay living where they grew up. It's a kind of deracination in some ways.

The problem is, lots of people (like me) don't want to stay on a holiday park full of kids, or in an hotel with no cooking facilities. I like to stay in a self catering cottage and wouldn't be able to do that without people buying them. I'm not sure what the answer is, as we have thought about buying a holiday home before but been put off by the idea of taking homes away from the locals/being unwelcome, but we like staying in them.....

Lots of cornish people own 2nd homes

@Wilkolampshade

Not just Cornwall where first time buyers can't buy and the young are priced out though is it? On my street in a fairly stabby part of London a one bed flat will set you back well upwards of 450k.

Exactly. I couldn’t afford to buy my parents’ modest semi in SW London. My father could afford it on one average wage.

The truth is, lots of people can't afford to buy where they grew up. That's true over vast swathes of the SE , not just in tourist areas.

Had a secondary school reunion recently (we are all turning 50). Fully 3/4 of us have moved far away from the "naice" town in which we grew up. The only one of us who has bought a house anywhere near there is a judge.

Being priced out of where you grew up is not unique to popular tourist areas. The truth is that we need more affordable housing across the country but building in beauty spots is incredibly unpopular.

That said, there should be a second home tax based on how many weeks of the year a property is left empty. Live in it or put it to use. I can understand the frustration about perfectly good homes lying unused. International buyers have done this to large swathes of London.

I probably should start a thread on this as it’s unrelated to tourists and 2nd home owners but I’d be interested to hear from the ‘outsiders’ who’ve moved to these places to see if they regret it seeing as in many cases they aren’t welcome even though it’s ‘locals’ who’ve legally sold them the house.

There must be people who move from big cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester, thinking it will be great, more space, smaller schools, less violent crime, it will be just like ‘The Good Life’ then find they are quite isolated and often feeling the locals dislike them just based on where they’re from and would prefer them to leave. Their kids picked on for being ‘posh’ or a ‘snob’ etc, people making digs about where they’ve come from or making judgements about how they will immediately demand the local shops to only sell knitted olives and organic hummus for £10 a jar.

We often hear from the locals about how awful the city folk are but how do the newbies feel once they’ve made the move to these places? That’s a take we don’t often get to hear especially as these city folk are often only moving because they can’t afford to buy family sized houses they’ve come from.

Dobby- what about locals who cycle?, are they on the receiving end of your anger as well? Sorry devon isn't chilling you out more

There was a column in the Times today by someone buying a second home in Devon and wondering if she should feel guilty. The general consensus in the comments is that she absolutely should.

(She never actually uses the phrase ‘second home’ but the rest of the column makes it pretty clear that she’s keeping her current place in London.)

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/53fd7780-ab64-11eb-bda6-057976012425?shareToken=aa9ccbd8f5520585af12cb6a1c33454e

I don’t live in Cornwall, but my close friends have lived in Penzance for many years, and brought up their family there.

Tourists are a vital part of the Cornish economy, and the industry supports thousands of jobs for Cornish people. Living there isn’t much fun in high season, but that is only two months of the year.

Second home owners are genuinely hated, particularly those from London. The perception is that they have inflated house prices to the point at which local people doing normal jobs will never be able to afford to buy a home of their own in the town in which they grew up, while the second homes sit empty for the majority of the year.

It seems wrong that people are allowed to buy second homes. I suppose any kind of law curtailing that would be a massive vote loser though.

Possibly inflammatory comment: Second home owners have somewhere along the line bought from locals who sold to them. Any local person can choose not to sell to an out of towner.

Unless you want a system like Jersey which restricts who can buy certain property?

It’s more than just being priced out of your home town. It’s the soul being ripped out of small communities by part-time residents. One local village here has a vibrant social life. The residents all congregate outside the local community orchard (adjacent to the pub) for barbecues, Christmas, winter, mayday, carnival, school fete....any excuse you name it. Loads of fun, friendships and community support. When people buy second homes they expect that laid on as a quaint local eventful they are around but don’t feel responsible for creating it

Tourism is hugely valuable to Cornwall and tourists have got to stay somewhere. A genuine holiday letting business provides employment for cleaners, laundries, gardeners and hospitality in high season and for decorators, tradesmen etc. in the off season. Many of the holiday lets round here are owned by locals and I don’t have a problem with this, as long as the properties are being put to use and not left empty. I do think the proportion of holiday lets in each area ought to be controlled, so that places do not become ghost towns. I do strongly object to houses being bought as an additional holiday home for the purchaser’s own use and left empty for long periods, though unfortunately, bricks and mortar are probably seen as a safe investment in the current climate. I don’t have any problem with incomers. I can’t imagine that many people expect to be able live in one place for their whole life nowadays. Most people have to to move to wherever their work takes them, at least at the start of their careers.

‘Second home owners are genuinely hated, particularly those from London.’

So if someone from Kent or Bristol bought a second home there they would be hated but it wouldn’t be as bad as if the person was from London? They sound as dumb as rocks.

@Wilkolampshade

Not just Cornwall where first time buyers can't buy and the young are priced out though is it? On my street in a fairly stabby part of London a one bed flat will set you back well upwards of 450k.

That really isn’t the same thing. People buy houses in London to live in them. The issue in Cornwall is that locals are priced out of buying houses which sit empty for the vast majority of the year. That’s what causes so much resentment.

It’s not just a problem in touristy areas, it’s a problem nationwide. Property prices in this country are ridiculously inflated to the point of the system being actually unworkable.

When we have so many homeless and trapped in high cost rentals even with two adults earning average salaries, something is clearly not right.

I agree with PP who suggest there should be a 2nd home tax - the more you leave it empty the higher the tax. If they can afford to buy TWO houses when most can’t even buy ONE tiny flat, I’m sure they can afford to pay the extra tax for the luxury of leaving it empty most of the year.

That money should then go directly to the area the 2nd home is in.

@Macncheeseballs

Dobby- what about locals who cycle?, are they on the receiving end of your anger as well? Sorry devon isn't chilling you out more

I suspect locals behave differently. We know not to park indiscriminately, how to reverse in lanes and respect the fact that the roads are used by locals who work here. It would be similar to me turning up in the South East and slowing up the dual carriageways by cycling 10 abreast blocking them. Seems a dramatic comparison but that’s the nearest I can suggest. What seems like a little country lane to dawdle along is our main route to get somewhere

@TeenMinusTests

Possibly inflammatory comment: Second home owners have somewhere along the line bought from locals who sold to them. Any local person can choose not to sell to an out of towner.

Unless you want a system like Jersey which restricts who can buy certain property?

A friend bought a second home in Cornwall thst had stood on the market empty for a year. The owner, a local, moved into his parents house (inherited) so no huge need to seek absolute top dollar from an out of towner. Friend has spent thousands on doing it up, spending money in the local economy, bringing tourists who will then also spend locally.

Grew up in Cornwall, live South Devon (came here to work). Second home owners are selfish scum, whether their second home is in Cornwall, London or Benidorm. Tourists who contribute to the economy are OK, those who rent the above second homes are callous. They probably don’t think about their choices, because at bottom they don’t care.

People buy houses in London to live in them.

Well, not always. There are loads of central London flats bought by foreign investors & sitting empty - and that should most definitely not be allowed. It’s shit.

Here are some more, IMHO, pithy questions:

Who's selling these Cornish houses to out of towners? Locals presumably? Do these locals selling up to non locals admit what they are doing at the time? Is it a thing that they are discouraged from doing by the other locals? Do they all just moan about the situation to themselves and hate on the buyers?

Where are the sellers going mostly? Bigger houses locally or moving right away? Why?

@EmpressWitchDoesntBurn

People buy houses in London to live in them.

Well, not always. There are loads of central London flats bought by foreign investors & sitting empty - and that should most definitely not be allowed. It’s shit.

Agreed.

The truth is, lots of people can't afford to buy where they grew up. That's true over vast swathes of the SE , not just in tourist areas.

It's one thing though if people are actually living in the homes, using the local shops and services etc it is a whole other kettle of fish when you have ghost villages that are empty for 9 months of the year. It isn't the same thing at all. I am not from the UK but have the same thing where I grew up, swathes of empty houses for most of the year, schools closing, local shops closing, it kills areas. It isn't the same thing as being priced out of a city.