Should people be allowed second homes?

[Soubriquet]

I’m not talking about those who have second homes to rent out, I mean ones who leave the house empty 90% of the year and visit maybe once or twice as a holiday home.

Surely it’s bad for the area to have so many empty houses that can’t be used as they are holiday homes especially if they live abroad and only visit once every few years. If ever

I’m also concerned that there is so much homelessness in this country that could easily solved by reducing the second home movement and allowing people to rent cheaply

So. What do you think?

Buy to leave is a London phenomenon due to our stable currency and safe democracy. Could easily be stopped by stopping purchase by non residents. Not sure what will then happen to expensive stuffy flats in a crowded city, though - want to put up taxes to buy them? Didn't think so...

Second homes don’t cause the housing issue, poor wages do.

@maddiemookins16mum

Second homes don’t cause the housing issue, poor wages do.

Actually lack of inventory

People should be free to home as many houses as they can afford and want. They will be paying tax into the system.

@maddiemookins16mum

Second homes don’t cause the housing issue, poor wages do.

The wage issue always crops up but it’s a red herring. People should have to live within their means of their salary, that means choosing an area that they can afford, limiting family size, budgeting for other items etc. Easier to blame wages than look at personal choices.

The only solution to the housing crisis is for the government to build, or facilitate the building of, massive numbers of affordable homes. Given the pressure to reduce emissions these will have to be apartments.

The focus on second home ownership is a distraction.

I understand your point. My FIL and his partner work in Africa a lot so they barely spend any time in their home which is lovely and on the coast. We’d absolutely love to live somewhere like that, it’s a real family home but sadly unused most of the time. We have been there twice now just to have a weekend away, I believe his partner’s daughter has used it for her family to have a break too. It’s like a free holiday home for us but it’s such a shame to leave a family home empty like that.

Whose going to tell the Queen about the proposed ban on 2nd homes?

@maddiemookins16mum

Second homes don’t cause the housing issue, poor wages do.

All that would happen if you increased wages would be prices of everything would go up. That's not a solution. It would just be the same problem with bigger numbers.

It's amazing though how some people on this thread seem to think it's either this way or we become a communist society that gives you daily allowances and you'll have your hands chopped off for even thinking out of line. Ever heard of a happy medium?

Yes, they should be allowed.Homelessness is horrible but why are people homeless is not primarily to do with people having second homes.

Are they homeless because they could not buy a house? Is this the main reason of being homeless in this country? I though not but tbh I do not see many homeless here compared to other similar countries.

The wage issue always crops up but it’s a red herring.
People should have to live within their means of their salary, that means choosing an area that they can afford, limiting family size, budgeting for other items etc. Easier to blame wages than look at personal choices.

Wages have risen at a far slower rate than house prices though. My parents bought their house (standard suburban semi in outer London) based on just my Ddads v average wage in the early 1980s. The adjoining house sold a couple of years ago for over 650k (20 x the average wage)

If you earn NMW or average wage it will be near impossible to afford anywhere in London or the south east. On the other thread the average wage in cornwall was 20k I think. There wont be a lot of choice of where they can afford to buy....

These kind of arguments are the least imaginative and cognitively challenged. Just because you can’t think of a positive solution to improve things for some, you have to punish others. It’s a terrible idea, just many others where lazy policy makers and left wing politicians restrict instead of creating. Try harder.

@sst1234

These kind of arguments are the least imaginative and cognitively challenged. Just because you can’t think of a positive solution to improve things for some, you have to punish others. It’s a terrible idea, just many others where lazy policy makers and left wing politicians restrict instead of creating. Try harder.

So the effects on the local communities are just tough shit? Unbelievable

I have a relative in a Scottish coastal town. He’s a teacher and can’t afford to buy a house there as the prices are insane.

The reason the prices are so high is because second home owners are buying up all the stock. Thus bidding wars happen when a property does come up for sale, and locals are priced out of the market.

In the winter the whole street where he rents just now is deserted with the majority of houses in darkness as they are second homes unoccupied the majority of the year.

Locals can’t get a house, young people are forced to move away, the majority of residents are now elderly or second home owners you hardly see except during the English school holidays.

It’s sad so many properties are lying empty for so many months and the local authority will need to build council housing on green belt. What a waste of good land and trees, and such a blow to the environment just so some rich person can enjoy Scotland for about five weeks a year before fucking off back home with not a second thought for the area they say they love, or the people there, or the environment. Sad.

Second homes do have some negative points such as increased use of land leading to more house building which can be bad for the environment, driving up prices in communities that mean local families can't afford to live there any more and so on. I don't think we should ban them but the tax on the second home should reflect these problems and can be out into measures that help offset them.

I actually don’t think people should be able to actively buy second homes, no. It’s different if you inherit a property and then rent it out etc, but buying holiday homes that are rarely used is just crap for everyone other than the second home owner. For example if you run a small business in a place with a high proportion of holiday homes, you’re screwed. House prices rise disproportionately etc

No party would ever ban in though since it would adversely affect property prices and most home owners therefore wouldn’t vote for it

I’m just curious as to why houses in London for example, are left to rot and decay and stay empty whilst the owners live abroad and actually have no intention of doing anything with the house

In New Zealand and (I think) India foreigners aren’t allowed to own property.
Someone on mn suggest that UK do the same and they were accused of being racist.
I think it’s shocking that whole blocks of flats are bought as investments and left empty apart from a caretaker..

Absolutely not.

@JocastaNu has the right idea. Don’t ban anything, just tax it to high heaven

Christ, we may as well go live in Russia in the 1930’s and get allotted our daily allowances

Get over with your hyperbole.

Of course it's selfish and wasteful. Completely agree with the OP. It's also pointless having a property empty for 80% of the year. And yes, they should pay more council tax/tax etc,

Who is selling all these homes to second home owners?

If you own a property in an area that is desirable to those who want a second home, surely you can choose who you sell to if the competition for the property is so great that potential buyers aren't even visiting?

[quote TheLastLotus]@JocastaNu has the right idea. Don’t ban anything, just tax it to high heaven[/quote]
They are clearly rich if they can afford a second home so yeah we should be. But they'll just find a way to get around that, always do.

@Andante57 agree with foreigners not being allowed to buy property. A lot of flats in London (decent two-beds perfect for young professionals) are owned by foreign shell companies that rent them out. All that money going abroad AND taking up houses that people couldn’t bought for a stable place to live in .
I know London prices are crazy but is just one the reasons.
If there’s no good humanitarian reason to allows this except for ‘but the free market’ (same with second homes), but humanitarian cons then surely something should be done about it

@sst1234

You 'try harder' - patronising post to those making a valid point. Stopping people from buying a second home that sits empty for most of the year is not 'destructive' as such - is it? Ridiculous argument.