If you own a second home how do you get treated by locals?

[Poiul]

Aware of the feelings towards second home owners on mumsnet. Does that contempt translate into real life is my question.

Couldn’t you rent for this? There’s no shortage of holiday lets.

We certainly wouldn’t be having large raves. It’s not my family’s style. We are all very polite and wouldn’t be in the slightest bit rude to neighbours.

I completely understand the detrimental effects of second home ownership though.

Thanks all

We often go away all together but obviously it would work out A LOT cheaper if we were just paying off a mortgage instead of the premium of air bnbs etc. Even with the council tax increase

You might be interested in looking into a unit that only has holiday occupancy permission, such as a static caravan, beach chalet or log cabin on a site?

Yes I think this is often true. My PIL had a holiday home in Wales but they, especially MIL seemed to spend nearly half their time there (they got it when FIL retired). MIL in particular spent a lot of time getting to know the neighbours and chatting to people in the village shops, going to art classes and joining walking groups etc. We went to stay there a couple of times and everyone seemed to know who she was! It did seem to be a friendly place to be fair.

This. Same where I live. Seaside village. Large proportion of second homes. Doesn't bother me but I hear constant complaints from locals for the reasons stated.

Yes but they still wouldn't be using the school, the library, the GP etc. These are the things that help to keep a community alive for locals

Immediately the nasty posts from the Cornish start. I bitterly regret buying there. I do think I support the local economy and so do people who rent from me. I’ve noticed an undercurrent a couple of times. A friend has sold in Wales as he didn’t speak Welsh and felt uncomfortable. It rather marks you out as not a local. I’m not sure why 500,000 people who live in Cornwall don’t like anyone else but we would love to sell. House prices are not high in all areas. Just coastal ones.

Also, OP, be aware that some of your own friends may secretly judge you for buying a second home

But, I get the impression you've already decided to go for it anyway

Live in a tourist 'hot spot' and own two other houses near by, not quite what you mean but second and third homes. Nobody cares, other locals just see the money they earn is spent back in the local economy. Equally as a tourist hot spot the house across form me is a second home. I couldn't care less. It was a derelict ruin before the 2nd home owners renovated it, so I treat them just live everyone else here.

The whole second home thing is massively over reported, and just plays to a few loud mouths who think the world owes them a living

I have a villa in The Canaries.
My neighbours never bat an eyelid.
They keep an eye on my home.
Ask if i've had a lovely time.
Who from my family went with Mr etc.
But one of my neighbours is Jane Mcdonald..
She's away more than me lol.

We own a second home in Cornwall. 😅

We don't have neighbours close by so I think we escape a lot of the judgement. We've had a few negative comments over the years but we just ignore them.

@TizerorFizz and @FinishTheBook - you both demonstrate exactly why the locals may have a problem.

@NeartoNewquay Why? You demonstrate why we don’t want to interact. Great shame really. We are quite nice people.

As the Cornish economy is 33% based on tourism, it seems like Brexit style folly to hate people and drive them away when the economy depends on them. I’m always interested to see so few ethnic minorities in Cornwall. I guess change and accepting others is an issue. Most people I know who have moved there yearn for the past and what the uk used to be. Most people helping us run our house have been pleasant but they run businesses based on the tourist industry. Luckily they need us and we like them.

Oh well. We've dealt with worse than a few locals who might have a problem with our life choices.

I live in a very touristy place and have it hunk about 4 or 5 second home owners on my road. Most are lovely, the neighbours and us are all friendly to them and have a little chat in the street if they want, same as any other neighbours. There is however one, that unfortunately acts like he's above all, says horrible demeaning things to people. Taunted me for not owning my home, other neighbours have nothing nice to say about him. And yes he is a Londoner (although I'm very well aware that's not all,.but he's absolutely doing himself the stereotype)
Real shame because we did try to make him feel welcome 🤔

Tried to type *about 4 or 5

There are a few people who are vocal about second home owners where I live, but they are also the people either own a second property and let it to holiday makers or have sold an inherited property at an inflated price because of the holiday market.

To me, the problem is not second homes themselves. It’s the total failure of our economy to create a diverse range of jobs in beautiful areas that attract tourists. Most of the farming and fishing jobs that were once the backbone of local employment have gone, leaving comparatively menial low-skilled low-waged jobs like supermarket and cleaning jobs. People with those sorts of jobs can rarely get on the housing ladder. These jobs don’t give people status or the sense of pride in what they do that the old jobs did. There is little to no career trajectory in these jobs, so people are stuck on minimum wage and may only have a seasonal income because their work is in the tourism industry. We desperately need a more joined-up approach in which the school system better supports kids who aren’t going on to university in gaining the skills they need to have good, well paid careers.

There are only about 10 houses where I live, 2 of them are second homes with the owners in London. One of them we’re friends with, one is… just v different! Like you get on with some people and not others anyway, it makes no difference that they’re second homes.

The problem we have with both of them is that they don’t look after their properties (up to them about the insides, of course) but it’s the gardens that get overgrown, block light and paths and drains.

I think if you are a considerate neighbour that gets on with people then it makes little difference.

This is the situation in so many villages in my area. I'm so pleased my local authority has taken action and increased council tax on second homes.

Interesting set of responses.

Dislike in my opinion should be about the governments that have done nothing to stop the growth of second homes and even more so short term lets (Air BnB is one just the most well known).

Our second home is probably in use by me and my adult DC for around 70% of the time.
In the Lake District National Park, local occupancy clauses are placed on some properties. The underlying reason for most is to prevent certain types of properties being used as a second or holiday home.This leads to only being able to purchase homes that would not be suitable family or starter homes. I cannot understand why Cornwall doesn't have a similar policy.
I have never had any antipathy from locals, quite the opposite. We support events locally as well as spend money in businesses.
I have owned it for 9 years and the statement I guarantee you, within 3 years you will want to "airbnb" it is completely wrong.
I fully support paying over the odds via taxation, I know what a privilege a second home is.

That's interesting you say that; would it really be cheaper? If you are a large group you'll need a large property to accommodate you all, which means high council tax and energy bills and maintenance charges as well as the cost of the mortgage deposit and ongoing payments, legal fees and the eye-watering stamp duty for a second home (£13,100 on a house costing £320K.) Then capital gains tax when you come to sell it.
Would not renting a holiday place a couple of times a year be cheaper over say 10 years? It might be worth calculating the figures.

My aunts lovely village in the western highlands is now a ghost village thanks to second home owners. The church, school and wee shop have now closed due to the dwindling numbers of actual residents. The locals have been priced out and driven away. It's horrible to see especially now the older folk have no amenities and no local transport as the school bus and post bus used to act as public transport. Nearest town is 15 miles away on a single track road:. It was such a lovely, friendly community before and all the kids our age back in the 70s and 80's would never have thought of moving away. When they grew up they had no option as not many high paid jobs to compete with London (majority of second home owners are from London) or Edinburgh high earners.
So yeah, somewhere like that they'd resent you being there.

Hey guess what? We're being priced out of where we grew up in "that London" too. It's not just in Cornwall you know 🙄