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.

Sell it then. I could go on any one of the local fb groups right this second & find multiple families who are DESPERATE to find homes cos their landlords are selling up, raising rent to grotesque levels or Airbnb'ing.

Ppl who have lived here their whole lives, got jobs here, children are at school here. Who really do contribute to the local community & economy.

You, my friend, do not do nearly so much as you think you do for us & your sneering attitude is the issue. I know a few second-home owners (who are distinct from holiday let owners, who I also know) & I like the ones I DO know cos they fully understand & appreciate the issues here. They are kind & respectful.

You, are not.

They really can! Purpose built & high quality, why anyone chooses to use up local housing is beyond me when they are available 🤷🏼‍♀️

I think like most things it’s more complex. Lots of young people have to move away from their home towns not just because of lack of housing but lack of opportunities and work. An economy just based on the service industry is always going to be limiting. But it’s the same in towns even that aren’t popular, like my own home town, lack of industry and development outside of cities.
I had a friend who moved into a small village and there they complained about people moving in, not second homes, but because those people left and went to work everyday so the local shops only open during the day, failed, as they had no daytime trade in the week.
Apparently they used to complain about people moving there to retire in the past, as they only wanted locals.

DH talked about getting one once but there’s nowhere I would want to go to every weekend. My friends mum did buy one in a seaside town, her and her 3 children and their children all used it. 10 years later they all moved their permanently because they liked it so much.

@TizerorFizz

"A friend has sold in Wales as he didn’t speak Welsh and felt uncomfortable. It rather marks you out as not a local. "

Imagine if someone had written:
"A friend has sold in Spain as he didn't speak Spanish and felt uncomfortable. It rather marks you out as not a local."

Your friend could have tried to learn Welsh and fit in.

We have one of these houses on our street, we live in a popular tourist town. Please don't do this, they're always on holiday and we're not, we have work to go to. We get so many different cars showing up at all hours, they have no interest in being neighbourly and are not very considerate at all. I wish they'd bought a property on a popular holiday site locally instead where they can be on holiday mode without annoying locals who aren't.

@TizerorFizz

"You should wake up and look at the economy stats for Cornwall. Holidays and the economy driven by second homes and their guests is huge. You would all feel the economic winds of change if it disappeared."

Tourism is the second largest sector in the Cornish economy and is 12% of Cornwall's GDP .

By comparison tourism makes up 8% of the UK's GDP.
Tourism in Cornwall will never disappear just as it will never disappear from the UK. However if it were simply at the average UK rate of 8% then sure there would be a tough short term readjustment required but this would be offset by cheaper housing if the number of second homes, holiday lets and Airbnb were also at average UK rates.

We have no problems- in fact they keep an eye on the place for me. We actually bought it from an active Plaid Cymru supporter.

It is occupied about 60% of the year and we employ a lot of local trades to keep it up to standard for guests. In fact many local people have FHLs of their own and we trade horror stories over the hedge.

There is plenty of affordable housing available to purchase locally. There's a move in ready 2 bed terrace for sale at the moment for £110,000 and several other properties at a similar price. Rental though is another story. The Welsh Govt has seen to that.

Plus, it's making housing more unaffordable for locals and rental properties are nigh on impossible to find due to so many airbnb ones. I really wish there could be strict rules around second properties in tourist towns to stop them becoming ghost towns out of season and go keep the local economy strong all year round.

Many locals sell properties to second home owners or own other properties they rent out as airbnb's - it really isn't as simple as stopping second home owners buying or taxing them.

62% of the covid grants for holiday let's went out of the county.

62%. Nearly £100 million - out of the county to second home owners during covid. Likely that would have been higher as a total percentage had they been registered as holiday let's - many aren't.

Many of whom, I might add, came down & used them during the height of the pandemic during lockdown. Polzeath & Rock (which should have been virtually empty) were full. All the villages round here had ppl arriving in the dead of night to sneak into their second homes. DHLing their belongings in case they were stopped by the police on the way down, so they could claim it was just checking on their property (which was allowed). I shit you not.

Since then, yes, attitudes have changed down here & ppl are far less tolerant.

As noted - I know some of these ppl personally & they were mortified that they were entitled to this cash when the resident population was on its knees due to lockdown & lack of trade. A particular family were disgusted by friends of theirs who put the cash into a new Range Rover.

My family, on the other hand, didn't know how we'd pay our mortgage or feed ourselves.

I agree, I don't know exactly what the answer is but it is frustrating seeing a local company adding to their holiday let portfolio knowing that it is exacerbating the problem. We just don't want to be in a 'Disney' town, like one fairly nearby that is almost all holiday lets/second homes and hardly any residents. It's more like a museum than a living, working town and community.

That is absolutely disgusting. I'm not surprised attitudes have changed.

I live in a seaside village. So many second home owners especially since covid. If I have to leave my rented home then I would no longer be able to live here. It's devastating to see so many properties occupied infrequently or just by holiday makers.

My holiday home is in Brittany France. It is 2km from the nearest town, and set in a hamlet of about 17 or 18 houses. Everyone speaks when we go out taking dogs for a walk. We have one good friend who speaks very good English and we asked her where the tip was, she has also recommended good tradesmen to do jobs on our property too. She keeps an eye on the house when we are not there and we take her shortbread and her husband whiskey when we return, her DH is so fond of whiskey.

I don't think my friends judge me for having a second home. I share it with extended family and friends. My DC's friends occasionally stay in it too. I'd rather it was used than empty. All I ask is that the person using it washes and dries bedding and puts it back on the bed for the next person using it and they leave the kitchen CV lean and tidy.

Our next door neighbours house is a holiday home for them, they come maybe 4-5 times per year and pretty much the whole of summer. They’re a retired couple, friendly, but nosey. It’s a plus for us because the majority of the time they aren’t here (nothing personal) we’d rather that than a noisy, permanent family for example. But the man is annoying and always parks his car in our spot as soon as the come. I don’t view them in any negative way, the man was a Dr, retired a while ago, they wanted to spend their money on a holiday home 🤷🏻‍♀️fair play to them.

COVID and holiday homes. There was anger in some of our communities when the moment each lockdown date was announced second home owners rushed over to their second homes because it was more pleasant to walk on beaches, in forests. Some of them brought it with them. Our health board already in special measures without the added pressure really didn't need it . Locals called the police in some instances when they arrived during lockdowns.

There's no getting round it, they are affecting the price of property. And if they sub let the constant change of neighbours in party mode till all hours is wearing when they're keeping everything awake

Mostly very well. We made a real effort to get to know people and join community groups, volunteer etc and have many local friends.

We used to spend more than 50% of our time there so it really actually was our ‘home’.

We built the house on a large rural property we already owned so weren’t taking existing housing stock.

I’m in Australia though and from the responses here it seems Australians are much more welcoming and less xenophobic than in the UK.

There's a saying a saying around where I am (a tourist countryside hot spot).

Buy buy holiday houses.
Bye bye homes.

Selfish second homers leaving empty houses vacant so noone can actually live there anymore ruins the place for everyone. Just because "the locals" (these inconvenient people) don't say anything, doesn't mean they aren't thinking it.

Second homes, Airbnb, hobby landlords. These are all decimating areas all over the UK.

My father's side of the family is from Windermere, all my cousins have been priced out so have moved further afield. My auntie lives in a gorgeous cottage and is always complaining about people knocking on her door to sell, or notes get put through the door.

Her street once was full of life throughout the year, now it's second homes and Airbnbs. It's horrific what is going on and it needs sorting out asap.

I have a second 'home' in my home town, a top floor Victorian tenement. We do not rent it out, and are good neighbors whether we are there or not. We contribute to garden and building upkeep, and do the bins etc every week we are there.

We pay double property tax and feel that is the right thing.

It's not a holiday town, and isn't in the center, but even though I feel a bit guilty. My neighbors are lovely and friendly though, and often plan gatherings when we are there.

I live in Canada and it's considered normal to have a holiday home, usually on a lake. Most often it's more of a rustic cabin, not some big fancy house. I live in my holiday home now and am trying to sell my city house. I can't see why anyone would judge anybody negatively for having a holiday home, since a large percentage of people do have them. In fact, people tend to be friendly in the hope you'll invite them to stay for a weekend.

Not really comparable. Our population density is more than 100x yours & we've a housing crisis coupled with restrictive (& selective) house building laws.

Counties where second homes are a real issue don't have enough housing stock left for the local population either on the open market or social housing. The open market has become wildly expensive vs the local population average income (in Cornwall the disparity is among the worst in the UK) due to property investment/buy-to-holiday-let & second home ownership.

Long term rental tenants have been turfed out to repurpose the home as Airbnbs - but there's nowhere for those ppl to move into. The council can sometimes house them in emergency bnb's or caravans, moving them around frequently & sometimes into other counties entirely - away from their jobs, schools & families.

It's become difficult for core services to recruit staff (hospitals, care homes, schools etc etc) cos there's no where close to affordable to live.

So, not like Canada at all.

I didn't think it was comparable. I was just answering the question. I wasn't aware it was restricted to UK housing, so I'll say no more about it.