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.

"so that the place does end up a ghost town other than July and August"

I think many of the areas being spoken about in this thread have moved on from only being busy in the summer, certainly where I am from it is busy all year round and that includes second homes being occupied.

It may be a tad quieter in certain months and on a personal level I far prefer it when it is not school holidays, but it is then many of the visitors who do visit their second homes, or holiday here outside of school holidays who continue to support the local businesses so they can continue to remain open all year round.

Entitlement level gold reached.

Why don't you speak any French?

She does.

We do ! 🙄 Still learning though ..

@GreenTeaLikesMe your points are so salient I'm wondering if you're either an MP or local councillor ;)

But yes - the issues are far far more complex than just 'urgh I don't like second homes it's greedy'. The consequences are almost impossible to roll-back too - which is where I think we're already at in parts of Cornwall, I'm not sure there's any way to fix it.

Thankfully I'm neither! ;) Most MPs I've seen just recycle populist talking points. There is a reluctance to engage the public in a grownup discussion about things like tradeoffs and difficult choices (and to be fair, the general public shows little interest in talking about this kind of stuff either).

My small village is slowly being bought up by Londoners wanting second homes. Small two up, two down cottages with a tiny garden and no parking are £1.5m+. There are also two big landowners scooping up farmland as it comes available ( one owns a multinational company, the other a huge import company) and buying cottages as weekend homes for their employees (who contribute absolutely sweet fa to the local economy but complain ad infinitum about the lanes being too narrow for their massive SUVs and that there’s no parking)
Locals don’t stand a chance of living here, the cheapest house for sale here at the moment is £750k, a tiny two bed bungalow with planning permission for demolition and rebuild.
It’s a miserable future for so many places.

We sold a rambling family 4 bed home 209 years old with a couple of acres in the village to a builder. Who proceeded to build a massive garage with rooms above. He ripped out many trees with no tpo on them, moved into the garage. Ripped apart the old house putting in sauna, steam room, managing to squeeze out two more bedrooms and two more bathrooms. Outside, BBQ, hot tubs, surround sound for music.

It's now a holiday let for ten at 2k a week.

It's become party central apparently. The whole village can hear the partying. It's a Jilly Cooper knocking shop the locals are saying.

The owner is living in the (cough) garage now a 2 bedroom cottage.

I feel so bad that we sold to them.

In our village 'locals' sold their old, cold, damp and drafty sea front cottages to 'óutsiders' wearing rose tinted glasses about living next to the sea, aand all the constant maintenance and hard work it involved. The rose tinted outsiders though these houses were worth a fortune, and the locals were only too happy that the outsiders bid up the value among themselves.

The locals move to the near by town, where all the jobs are and where prices were normal for the area, but there were many many new cars and holidays at the same time. Old cold money pits were swapped for cost efficient new builds, close to the amenities that the village never had. In the end the old Victorian primary school had to close, but with outsiders buying it for a small fortune, the council built a brand new school in the new town, with all brand new classrooms, sports facilities etc. The same happened to the doctors. All those who used to drive to an old doctors in the next village now walk to a brand new health centre in town.

The outsiders soon found out what it's like in these old houses and set about renovating them. The local builder has never had it so good and now employs more trades than ever before.

The old shop got replaced by a posh boutique for the outsiders and the pub became a 1* restaurant. The old village really busy in summer, but there no shortage of summer jobs for the DDs and their friends. Out of season it's nice to go to those places. Places that never existed before the outsiders came. Don't tell anyone, but they all have 'locals' discounts out of season.

Overall everyone seems to be a winner, but if you listened to one of two 'hard of thinking' types, this is now how it's all reported/seen

"Less xenophobic"? Have you seen how racist Australians can be?

The reason that there may be less hostility to second home owners possibly has something to do with Australia being a massive country with plenty of land to build on. I doubt that there are many places in Australia (other than those purpose built for holidays) which have less than half of their properties in permanent occupation. In Abersoch (which is situated in a part of the world which is otherwise as Welsh as it gets) Welsh people are a small minority. We're losing a language and culture. The school closed in 2021, the village is a ghost town in winter.

If you want London boroughs to start taxing second homes and regulating AirBnBs, you'll hear no objection from me.

I never really see the point in having a spare house. You can only be in one place at a time can't you.

The wealthier people are then the more 'spares' they often have - clothes/shoes, jewellery, cars, houses....not justifying it though, just observations.

That sounds very culturally different (the cabin on the lake) and most people would be all in favour of people buying a lodge/static caravan/apartment on a purpose built holiday site. It's residential property being taken out of circulation that is the problem contributing to a severe housing shortage.

You have taken a residential property out of circulation - your friend has not.

The multiplying council tax on second/empty homes could also be introduced in London, as could requiring planning permission for air b&b and requiring a local connection/no second homes for the sale of new properties. Sounds good to me!

Me neither. Ideally nobody would be able to buy a property unless they were either going to live in it full time or rent it to tenants who were going to live in it.

Hosing in this country is a finite resource.

What if as the rich poor divide widens it becomes trendy for the rich to own 10 houses dotted all around the UK- would that be OK? Other people having to live in tent villages so the rich can have 9 empty properties because they are rich? No? But one empty is OK? How about 2? Rich people should not be able to buy up resources that are a requirement for a basic standard of living.

This is a disgusting post. "Creep" WTF. (and I'm in my 40s). Absolutely vile.

When you sell another permanent residential home will be available.

Funny how many people believe their particular holiday let is of no use to anybody else while being suitable for you/ your parents/ your son....

As for appealing - what would your grounds be? "These rules shouldn't apply to meee?"

Edit to say - no need for a new kitchen to sell - just price it what it is worth as it is.

Yes I think it should and other cities too. Plenty of people wanting to live in the country while maintaining a pied a terre in the city.

I live in an area that kicked up quite the stink about this and now thoroughly regrets it.

The village meetings started with around 50% saying they had no issue with second homes. After implementing measures to make it difficult for second home owners a while back, the most recent vote was 85% for removing the measures.

There was a fire sale. Locals couldn’t afford the houses. Prices didn’t, and haven’t, come down. Less money is being spent in the area and businesses are on the brink of collapse. The worst part is the divide and how unwelcoming the area now feels.

If it continues how it is, it will be a shell of a place and probably all but the 15% will leave. Then at least they’ll be happy.

But that’s never going to happen is it? The ‘super’ wealthy are not stupid. They’re not going to invest in ten holiday properties in the UK, and leave them all empty. Wealthy people might already own multiple properties, but not as holiday homes for themselves, but as investments to generate income. They rent them out to holiday makers or private local renters. These types of homes are not going to be your standard one one down back to backs that might benefit first time buyers.