Second Home owners doing sad faces in the press about council tax increase

[CornishTickler]

Just read an article online about the second home council tax increase and there are couples with sad faces saying it was without warning and is against their human rights! It wasn't, its been in the press and talked about by councils for over a year. It wasn't a surprise, areas with high levels of second homes knew it was coming.

I for one am glad about the tax. Our village has been destroyed by second home owners for years. A lot are badly maintained and empty for 80% of the year.

The argument that they bring extra income is also misleading. Most true second home owners who only visit a couple of times a year don't contribute much to the economy but are very vocal in interfering in local issues to the detriment of actual residents. One example (I'm not joking on this) was to oppose the planning of a local business that would benefit the community with jobs and tax revenue because of the endangered newts! luckily common sense prevailed but honestly they got very vocal and aggressive about it. It was mainly because they didn't want it to impact their second home.

Holiday makers bring revenue. Absentee second home owners do not.

Hopefully the second home tax increase will increase council tax revenue and help to support our community and vulnerable people.

I've just seen a title of a news story saying "a breach of human rights"
Oh fuck the fuck off.
YOU decided to have a second home so of course you should pay council tax on said home.
Breach of human rights my arse

Sometimes "locals" will be selling one home to buy another in the area (just like people do everywhere). If prices are being kept high because of a demand for second homes, they can't afford to sell for less than the current market value.

My family have a second home. It’s been in the family for 100+ years and we try to rent it out when we are not there. It is very much suited to holidaying rather than long stays. I’m not complaining about paying double council tax. It does mean we have less ££ to spend when we are on holiday but I completely understand why the tax has been introduced. It is just a shame that the Welsh council that is charging it are unlikely to use it to help make more suitable housing available for locals.

Classic case of yet another Tory privatisation fuck up...

Wasn’t the aim to break the big unions by creating more people with mortgages and a need to work (not strike) to pay them?

If so, it worked as planned.

I agree though. Council owned homes should never have been sold off.

That’s just what i said. I agree that empty properties should be heavily penalised. Arguing that they use the same service as every other home is nonsense though.

My argument is against all second home ownership being banned - there should be good rental properties - both long and short term, available. Banning this in locations such as Cornwall would be detrimental to the locals, not beneficial.

I think this is another unintended consequence. Families with second homes that want to keep them for sentimental or other reasons will scrape together the money to pay the extra council tax. Money that would otherwise be spent in the local shops, pubs and restaurants etc.

We do not have a second home but if I could afford one I would in a heartbeat. I have a strong spiritual and emotional connection to my home county, and only live elsewhere because I need a job that pays the bills etc. If I did have a second home I would either rent it out, thus providing input into the local economy, or spend as much time as possible there. I would probably decamp for the whole summer.

we’ve just returned from a week in Cornwall, attending a family funeral, and have poured £££ into the local economy. Far more than we would in the same time period here. I’ve just had a quick scout online and Cornwall DMC estimates the value of tourism as 25-28% of GVA. Indeed, the seemingly continuous construction projects are largely holiday home related and no doubt being charged at premium rate.

we are past nursery age, so don’t use those, are fortunate to have limited drain on healthcare etc just now.

I do understand the problem, as the wage to house value ratio is a big part of the reason that I can’t return full time, but a lot of those moaning are the same people who sold out 15-20 years ago, making what they thought was a handsome profit. There will always be those who can afford it though, so the situation is unchanged

No it was philosphical - that everyone should have the opportunity to own their own home and most WC voters at the time would align with that aspiration.

The real issue was the scale of the discount encourage some to get "on the dream ladder" only to fall off it in later years (poor quality or poorly located property) combined with banning councils from using the proceeds to invest in new housing stock. There were also councils who then made it difficult for anyone else to build partly for political point scoring. Often these were the same councils who compulsory purchased stocks of secondary public housing such as Peabody types. Of course classic stock - terraces and semis with gardens in areas with employment - went like hot cakes leading to an overall reduction both in quantity and quality of stock.

If the scheme had been a little more measured and seen as a stepping stone to home ownership rather than a free for all then the whole country might have benefitted from managed sales. As it is, over reliance on a poorly regulated private sector to pick up the slack was never goign to work. A better regulated private sector may have been able to fill much of the gap.

But presumably people who only own one home will not have to pay the enhanced council tax? The PP rents her main home, so technically she does only own one home. Or is the enhanced rate extended to people who rent one home and own another?

The thing is, this is a capitalist democracy where people can spend their own money on what they like, as unfair as it might seem. If you say that no one can have a second home, why stop there? Maybe only one car per household? Maybe only one fly holiday every other year for everyone because of the planet? Once the government starts dictating what people can buy with their own money, it's a slippery slope.

ETA: Come to think of it, it's amazing that the government is taxing second homes but not households with multiple cars, which damage the environment. Some households with young adults living there have 3-4 cars.

Sounds like you are much more connected to your second home community than many.

However, where do you get your car serviced and your hair cut? Do you shop locally for groceries (village shops are always more expensive) or bring stuff from home? Do you use local businesses for all furniture, soft furnishings etc - probably less choice in a holiday area and who wants to spend their precious 'time off' on that kind of stuff? A normal community needs everyday businesses and facilities. These businesses provide jobs.

How many local people shop in expensive village shops rather than the nearest Tesco? When we stay in Cornwall we do use the village shop (as well as the local Tesco) because that’s part of being on holiday, whereas BIL and SIL who live there never do because it’s too expensive!

I have a second home in the UK and iv been paying 200 percent council tax for 3 years. I'm not complaining about it just saying it's not new in some areas. I just let family and friends borrow it if/when I'm not wanting to be using it myself.

She is paying council tax on a second home, the council won’t care that the first one is rented.

do you use local businesses for all those things?
Does anybody?
I don't know about St, Ives but I live in a medium sized village and there are no furniture shops and never have been.
I think you are being unfair when the pp appears to be a part of the local community

See my previous post! Yes, I shop locally and yes it’s more expensive but the produce in the fishmongers/greengrocers etc is really good. I do not have shopping deliveries here, although I do at home. When we refurbished our house we used all local people, had our curtains and blinds made locally etc. My kitchen came from a joiner 5 minutes away. In terms of my hair/car/vet I use those services both here and at home. I do not have a GP here obviously, so if I need to I use a local private one. To be fair though I have to do that at home, because it’s impossible to get an appointment at my NHS GP.
We invest a lot in the area and we spend a lot of time here. We will retire here in the next few years.

I should clarify. When we bought the holiday home we were renting our main home so only had one property. That has since changed, hence paying double CT

'Outsiders'?

Why am I envisioning a wild-eyed crowd with pitchforks and burning stakes, defending the village green while carrying their babies with third arms and 27 toes?

No 'outsiders' does not lead to healthy and vibrant communities.

But we are talking about such areas aren't we? not Merthyr..

In less touristy areas, there is often a decent rented sector, far less Airbnb for starters....

Govt stops us owning or using lots of things considered not to be good for society.

A home is a necessity, most people don't own multiple cars, unless they are hobbyists or needed for specific tasks.

2 adults 2 adult children living under the same roof my well need 4 cars if working, same as they'd have 4 cars if they all lived separately.

There is also not a shortage of cars.

Hmmm I’m not sure about that…..

I live in a Hertfordshire town and I’m not too chuffed about Londoners moving here making homes too dear for us. The poor young ones can’t buy a house in a town they grew up in. I think there’s something wrong with that.

Youre not wrong OP. Second home owners should pay double the going rate for CTax, they deprive the local area of enough money to provide services needed for all residents.

Exactly..my point is that you can’t do away with one aspect (holiday home rentals) without foregoing the other (tourism and its income)!

So you are well connected to the local community. Most second home owners are nowhere near so involved.

But none of us are guaranteed houses where we grew up. 'Allowing' 'outsiders' to buy is a very different topic from whether second home owners decimate communities. Insular communities don't fare all that well.

My next door neighbour is a freelance writer, her DD is a starving artist. I'm not sure they're too chuffed about the kids of people from Hertfordshire towns finishing their uni finance degrees and coming to London to work in the city and buying up houses either.