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.

@petshihtzu I do get annoyed with the London privilege thing though. My parents moved to an undesirable cheap part of London which was immigrant heavy. I had to navigate druggies, dealers, prostitution etc as a dc but of course it's now gentrified.
Some friends who have moved to the coast have beeb tarred with the DFL brush but they don't have a choice.

Whenever I've been on holiday, I've stayed in a hotel or B&B.
I don't really want to do any cooking or housework when holidaying.

If they suddenly came on the market and was snapped up as a proper home but for someone outside as such it would still be a proper home to someone living in the community. Over time with it no longe being a holiday homer vs resident market things would level off and work out. Since the houses would be for actually residents not holiday makers.

Has there been a crackdown? Confused!

How long I wonder before someone says that as I am not English I shouldn’t be able to own property here at all?

I came here for work, both my husband and I earn a good wage, and we have decided to spend it on some nice houses. The two main ones are a family home in London and one in the North East, where my husband is from.

I don’t think that there is any problem with this.

Its really not just as simple as "oh but what about the jobs the natives will lose if we don't give them handouts by deigning to visit their lovely little provincial town".

If you live in a town with a high proportion of holiday homes, you start losing your services because the population of your town plummets. Your doctors surgery closes because they don't have enough patients. So does the school and the dentist, and the vets, and all the other things you need. The local budget supermarket closes up and is replaced by Waitrose, which you might not be able to afford. Your vibrant and diverse high street turns into shop after shop selling expensive goods aimed at tourists - high end clothing, souvenirs and expensive art and pottery, outdoor wear, ice-cream and fudge - which is all very lovely I'm sure, but that's not what you, as someone who actually lives there, needs. You need pharmacies and grocers and butchers and opticians and normal clothing stores.

The Scilly Isles council were recently appealling for accommodation because they desperately need a teacher and nurse on the islands, but they couldn't get anyone over there because there was nowhere for them to live thanks to holiday lets dominating the property market.

Try to remember these places are not playgrounds for you. They are actual communities.

Mass tourism is like a drug. It destroys you and makes you dependent on it.

We go away at Christmas to tourist towns. So not all let's are closed up

I was going to be drawn on this, but I don’t think you can be real so I’ll let you crack on with stirring the pot.

Last summer I went down to the west country where I used to live in my youth and I was horrified how all the lovely villages I remember have been overtaken by tourism. The real communities are disappearing and it is very sad. There are too many tourists in these places - the worst example I saw was St Ives. Its very sad. I agree that the taxes on these places should be increased.

Anyone who is against 2nd hones and holiday cottages, where do you go on holiday?

I use holiday cottages simply because I like kitchens etc in the room which hotels here don't seem to offer. In other countries I've been to hotels with self catering apartments on site.

Christmas can be just as a tourist thing as august. Because it’s Christmas and people want to get away. But February? Cold damp and grey. November apart from maybe something for fireworks night?

I don’t even live in a tourist area more a commuter area and that’s bad enough.

@FemmeNatal it's people like you who are the direct cause of myself being homeless. I have cancer and cannot find anywhere to rent because of people like you.
You are the direct cause of 4 households being homeless. I hope your selfishness keeps you awake at night.

The problem is not holiday home owners - it's more SECOND home owners

That's people who literally have 2 homes and just visit a few weeks a year

Holiday homes have people in far more often, far more contribution to the local economy

I think that a license to purchase a holiday let in any area should be obtained from that areas local council. There should be a cap on how many holiday lets per area according to population.

@Ylvamoon I don't! I don't get the luxury of being able to go away. I haven't had a holiday in a decade. Because all the money I earn goes on paying a vastly inflated rent because of the lack of affordable housing.

Wow. Are you really pretending that the only reason you have 4 homes is because that specific poster hasn't offered to buy one of them from you?

If you wanted to sell one of them, you'd market it for sale, like people normally do, and you'd sell it. You own 4 homes because you choose to - at least be honest and own it.

@FemmeNatal come on, you can't be oblivious to the issue of multiple homes, home ownership & the burden on younger people? I actually prefer the French Taxe Foncière over CT

Hotels
Pubs with rooms
B&B's
Static caravans on holiday parks
Campsites
Stay with family/friends

You can go pretty much anywhere in the UK without renting out a house or cottage!

I'm sure you don't see anything wrong with it. People responsible for causing problems rarely wish to look honestly at what their choices are doing.

There are huge problems being caused by second home owners. These are now being discussed more openly. As the majority of people are not second home owners, public opinion is likely to go against you. And that is fine, it is how democracy works. You are a small group and those without second homes are a big group. The economic damage being done is not sustainable and in time, things will change. Whether you see the problem or not is, frankly, irrelevant. You can feign ignorance for as long as you like.

We live in a seaside village. The locals mostly live in one area as not many can afford the other part.
The next village along is now all second homes. I had a walk around one day.. it was really spooky. The pub was closed . No one about. No one to work at the pub as no one lives there. Not worth the pub opening as no one to serve anyway.

It was so sad.

A beautiful village ruined. No young people.

For those of you with second homes.. how do you feel about that..?

Don’t be so silly, there are thousands of places to rent on Rightmove.

Blaming others for your situation is very unpleasant.

Would it be better for second home owners in places with too many to sell their property or have long term tenants?

Disgusting isn’t it? I really feel for you, it’s completely unacceptable.

I've just become an accidental second home owner after my father passed away. I've got 6 months to fix it up (and it really, really needs it and will probably take longer than 6mo) before I get hit by the council tax whammy or double whammy. I can't face selling it yet (it's my childhood home) and I want to go back there in 10y when I retire so I'm stuck with renting it out - assuming I can jump all the landlord hurdles/health and safety issues that need dealing with and I've not got money for. And I don't live close...
It's not in a holiday area, nowhere near London but very close to a large hospital so I'm hoping short-term/rotational NHS staff will want furnished accommodation that isn't a cube in staff residences.

But is that still ethical? It's doing my head in... the second home issue isn't as black and white as it may seem especially when you find yourself on the other side.