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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

658 replies

Beerlovingwalker · 03/05/2021 13:31

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.

OP posts:
poppycat10 · 03/05/2021 16:05

What about the tourists who stay in second homes rather than holiday parks or hotels. Are they semi-cunts

Holiday homes aren't the same as second homes although they are still taking residential property away from locals in many cases. It's not as bad as leaving a property empty for much of the year though. For goodness sake just stay in a hotel instead. If you can afford £200K for a second home (conservative estimate of price) you can afford to stay in accommodation and put money into the local economy.

poppycat10 · 03/05/2021 16:07

Is there any local dialog about locals not doing this? Or is all the hostility reserved for those who have bought the house

Where my mum lived a farmer has sold acres of farmland for a massive development which is going to have a terrible impact on the village she lives in (in short, it will no longer be a village). I think the locals do judge him, a lot, but they can't say they wouldn't have done the same, given he reportedly made around £50 million. She might have said £15 million but it's still a massive amount.

AppleAppleAppleApple · 03/05/2021 16:12

By the way, I know. Cornish person who has multiple homes they rent out as holiday homes. I’m talking nearly ten properties. Is that also fair? As I said, we in Cornwall need to look at ourselves and not just at out of county people.

Obbydoo · 03/05/2021 16:13

@MoreHairyThanScary

Agree with the above posters ( not cornwall but south Devon)

As locals we know we are lucky to live here and are happy to share with tourists. Second home owners however kill villages, bus routes, schools, libraries and limit accommodation for low waged young people ( the average wage is the south west is stupidly low), pushing the cost of housing ever higher.

In short no second home owners are not welcome!

'Happy to share'. 'Not welcome'. Urgh.

Second home owners and private landlords are causing all sorts of housing issues in the UK and it's something that needs looking at but I find 'happy to share' and ''not welcome' incredibly self-centred. You don't own Cornwall. You are not sharing, it is not yours to share.

the80sweregreat · 03/05/2021 16:16

@Laiste

Do Cornish people have this conversation between themselves though? Are they also calling their own relatives and countrymen 'cunts' when they sell their houses up to second home owners for massive prices?

Is there any local dialog about locals not doing this? Or is all the hostility reserved for those who have bought the house?

I said this on another thread about second home owners and was ' flamed ' as ' not understanding the economy' but people do sell them on ( and their land etc) for profit so why don't the locals challenge the ones doing this ? The estate agents and middle men are not bothered as they are making commission and probably live close to these second homes too. It's a complex subject isn't it?
sHREDDIES19 · 03/05/2021 16:18

We’ve recently bought a holiday home in very picturesque part of Cornwall. We’ve just paid off our mortgage on our main home and see this as a good investment for our future. Will be renting it out peak season but fully intend on using it as much as we can for our own family holidays. We love the place and have had many happy holidays here over the years so now rather than paying someone else we can stay in our own place! The thing is we’d find it hard to afford a nice home in our city if we tried to buy now as things are crazy in most places not just Cornwall. We are responsible, care for the local environment around us and plan on enjoying lovely breaks as the children grow up. That’s our decision and one no doubt made by many in a similar situation. Nobody owns a place or has any entitlement over it.

Blondiney · 03/05/2021 16:21

Some people go way OTT with their Cornwall worship, I'm not even from there but it gets my back up! I went on holiday there a couple of times as a kid and it was nice enough but not worthy of the almost fetishisation

MoonCatcher · 03/05/2021 16:22

@poppycat10

What about the tourists who stay in second homes rather than holiday parks or hotels. Are they semi-cunts

Holiday homes aren't the same as second homes although they are still taking residential property away from locals in many cases. It's not as bad as leaving a property empty for much of the year though. For goodness sake just stay in a hotel instead. If you can afford £200K for a second home (conservative estimate of price) you can afford to stay in accommodation and put money into the local economy.

I meant tourists who stay in other people's second homes, are they half cunts?
MoonCatcher · 03/05/2021 16:26

I love the Cornish people who complain that a) second home owners leave their homes empty for months of the year and b) live in them during lockdown Grin

Thomasina2021 · 03/05/2021 16:28

Tourists fine

Think second home-owning should be banned tbh

sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea · 03/05/2021 16:28

Signing in from Norfolk to say that whole swathes of the naice part of the county have been devastated by second home owners. Villages where there's no shop, no school, no post office, no public transport - but there is an interior decorators boutique & an antique shop. Villages that are absolutely dead for 75% of the year because of all the houses that are left empty.

Tourists would keep these villages alive because there would be a demand for services that you need. Instead, the 2nd homers load up their cars before leaving London, and treat the villages as a location. I absolutely hate them. Plus as many, many others have said, they don't understand the etiquette of rural roads etc. Not to mention the council tax reduction on a house left empty most of the time - so effectively they suck the life out of villages, and deprive it of funding too.

Listener2021 · 03/05/2021 16:28

2nd home owners destroyed our Cumbrian village, shop, post office, school and buses all gone. Eerie empty in winter months.

ladygindiva · 03/05/2021 16:29

@MoonCatcher

I love the Cornish people who complain that a) second home owners leave their homes empty for months of the year and b) live in them during lockdown Grin
Wow. Way to miss several points all at once.
Tealightsandd · 03/05/2021 16:29

The same issue has badly affected born and bred Londoners for years. Second homes and bolt holes pricing out locals, away from family and support networks.

Even worse, many of the London second homes aren't even used at all. Not even for an annual holiday. They're left empty all year round. In London - where there's more rough sleepers and homelessness than anywhere else in the UK.

It's wrong, when so many have no home at all. It's wrong in London and it's wrong in Cornwall.

LucilleTheVampireBat · 03/05/2021 16:29

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

Thank fuck you don't speak for all of Devon. I'm sure those people who rely on tourism for their living will be thrilled with people like you.

tecatea · 03/05/2021 16:30

Not just Cornwall where first time buyers can't buy and the young are priced out though is it?

True dat! apparently as a Londoner I shouldn't expect to stay near family.

NursieBernard · 03/05/2021 16:30

I don't live in Cornwall but I live in the neighbouring county. I have no problems with tourists staying at holiday parks, hotels etc but there is a growing problem of people buying properties to use a Air BnB's and holiday lets. This causes issues like those caused by the second home owners. It is sad to think that my children will never be able to afford a house in or near their home town or very likely in the county at all.

tecatea · 03/05/2021 16:32

There should be much higher levies on 2nd home/foreign ownership.

FrankieStein402 · 03/05/2021 16:34

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Tealightsandd · 03/05/2021 16:35

Instead, the 2nd homers load up their cars before leaving London

Yeah they're all from London.... Except, no they're not - and the same problem has been happening to Londoners for years. But no cares about London families and communities being destroyed.

stickygotstuck · 03/05/2021 16:35

Different situation, but were I live (not touristly but semi-rural) prices have been pushed up massively by people moving in from more expensive areas. Especially noticeable since lockdown, loads of people moving 'up here' from down South especially (I understand from local EA that some of them haven't even viewed the houses the've bought Confused).

We have wanted to move to a larger house in this same are, been saving for ages, and just this last year is coming dangerously close to pricing us out of the market.

The property market is shit.

Tealightsandd · 03/05/2021 16:37

@tecatea

Not just Cornwall where first time buyers can't buy and the young are priced out though is it?

True dat! apparently as a Londoner I shouldn't expect to stay near family.

Yes apparently it's different for Londoners. Except it's not. Either it's ok for people to have to move away, be priced out. Or it's not. Wherever they're from.
CornishTiger · 03/05/2021 16:39

Tourists no problem.

Second home owners - depends. Leave it empty for most of the year - huge dislike.
Rent it out and employ local people to service it, maintain and pay decency not so bad. Most don’t though and the income says out of the county.

Tealightsandd · 03/05/2021 16:40

I live (not touristly but semi-rural) prices have been pushed up massively by people moving in from more expensive areas. Especially noticeable since of people moving 'up here' from down South especially

Not their fault they've been priced out by people from up there moving down South.

Crowsaregreat · 03/05/2021 16:41

Nobody likes second home owners, wherever they are. They shred opportunities for young people and ruin communities. There should be massive disincentives against buying additional homes.