To be conflicted by the crackdown on 2nd homes

[chairz]

I complete understand the problems they cause & do agree with a higher levy but thenI have used holiday cottages lots of times in the past & plan to in the future.

But isnt thats the exact problem, they are used as holiday homes and then local people cannot buy a home to live in as their permenant resdence.

I'm still shocked by the fact that so many of these second homes got a big fat covid cheque during lockdown.

Because it’s pure greed. If you want to own a holiday let buy one of the million static caravans. Not a house a family could genuinely live in all year round supporting their local community all year round.

Its about time this got stamped on. People shouldn’t have to move away do to rich people buying up extra homes to rent out week by week.

The last time I stayed in a holiday 'cottage' it was an outbuilding converted into a studio type place and not taking a home away from anyone. I have previously stayed in converted farm outbuildings.

I would support any town that wants to stop second home owners in their area. If they can't be banned they should be charged double council tax if they are taking up a usable family home.

I'm still shocked by the fact that so many of these second homes got a big fat covid cheque during lockdown.

that was completely wrong & the stamp duty pause should never have been eligible for 2nd homes.

We’ve stopped renting ours out now, and just leave them for our own use. It doesn’t seem to have stopped some awful people still complaining about it though.

But isnt thats the exact problem, they are used as holiday homes and then local people cannot buy a home to live in as their permenant resdence.

I suppose I also have the angle that I'm a Londoner born to immigrant parents & most of my friends are similar. None of us live where we were raised as we couldn't afford too & lots of social housing has been moved out of London. There's never really any sympathy for local Londoners though.

All the 2nd home owners and holiday makers who want shops and restaurants etc....... are fucked as local workers can't afford to live locally to work locally. They will be the first to moan when there lovely, idyllic cottage has no facilities around it at all.

I think it should be more than double council tax, they should pay 3 or 4 times as much, they should pay a holiday let fee etc.... as well to the local council.

We’ve stopped renting ours out now, and just leave them for our own use. It doesn’t seem to have stopped some awful people still complaining about it though.

that's the thing isn't is going to stop people renting them & just leaving them empty. I suppose they may bring in higher CTs

Them? How many do you have.

I mean I get it I’d love a holiday home but local communities cannot exist and survive if all the homes are holiday let’s or second homes. It kills the local communities.

Yes, it's not really acceptable that so many are let out for holiday lets, rather than even rented out for people to actually live in. Greed I suppose, and should be penalised when so many don't even own one home let alone multiple ones.

So it's empty for a lot of the year, and a local family who work locally can't rent or buy it, but people are awful moaning at you and your privilege? Fucks sake

I do think the council tax should be huge. A empty home charge that makes its hugely unlikely for most to own a second home to use purely as a weekender here and there.

I wonder with the housing crisis in many places just how many empty homes are holiday let’s in such areas where they are popular.

I suppose I also have the angle that I'm a Londoner born to immigrant parents & most of my friends are similar. None of us live where we were raised as we couldn't afford too & lots of social housing has been moved out of London. There's never really any sympathy for local Londoners though.

We also need a huge crackdown on people buying London properties for 'investment purposes'. The ideal would be if people could only buy homes if they were going to live in them.

I don't have the detail of what is being proposed but my understanding was that it was more a crackdown on people who want to do AirBnB - but not on a long term business basis. Only in the summer months when they chuck out their tennant to cash in on the summer trade? Plus perhaps a rebalancing of the number of holiday lets v long term lets and housing stock available to buy to local people in very popular areas?

I don't think it's an outright ban on holiday cottages? Like I said, I don't have all the info and might be wrong...

We’ve four homes in total, one of which (a warehouse flat in London) we rent out. The others we use.

Two are in England, one is my childhood home in France.

Greed I suppose, and should be penalised when so many don't even own one home let alone multiple ones.

This of cause is a major issue.

What happens to the tourist towns if the tourists have nowhere to stay? It's not as simple as banning holiday lets.

"It doesn’t seem to have stopped some awful people still complaining about it though"

why are they awful though?

It’s not just the countryside that is affected. Try buying a house in London or in my city Edinburgh. First time buyers absolutely locked out of the market due to the place being an AirBnB theme park.

Would you like to buy one of them? I’m happy to consider an offer if so.

We’re not likely to want to use the London flat again; what’s your budget?

A lot do these tourist places have plenty of statics/lodges and camp grounds as well as proper bnbs and hotels.

you are also forgetting that most tourism is in the summer holidays. These communities need to survive all year around not just in July and august.

look at say somewhere like ingoldmells. It’s majority caravans and such. Outside of the school holidays it’s a ghost land because there are not many locals at all anymore. All land is holiday parks. Everything’s shut outside of the holidays pretty much so that leave only the retired and those who own the parks can live there. The summer staff work for a few months away from home and then leave again. Not a proper community anymore.

Local people can then afford to live, work, go to school and start businesses there, and turn the community back into a diverse and thriving economy, rather than one homogenous economy totally dependent on mass tourism, which is a scourge that hollows out communities and turns places into ghost towns with no services like doctors or dentists, because they do not have enough permanent residents.

That's what would happen.

The problem is not properly managed and occupied holiday lets. These bring tourists into communities dependent on this industry and employ locals in managing the property/cleaning it. If a property is suitable as holiday let and able to be used 182 days+ a year as a viable business then it is a minor annoyance for locals but does not general decimate the community.

The problem is actual second homes, that sit empty much of the year, and are visited by the same people over and over who have no intention of visiting paid tourist attractions and activities at the same frequency as someone on a weeks holiday. These people are entitled and selfish, ruining the areas they see as so attractive, and should be paying for their enormous privilege of owning multiple homes.

We need local communities for the locals as in the people who want to live there all year around. They need jobs and restaurants open all year to be able to live there all year.