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 am perfectly well aware that council tax pays for more than social care and bins. But you just listed a load more things that 2nd homeowners will use far less than an ordinary resident. They might go to a park once a year and they won’t be libraries etc.

I most certainly do not ever parachute anywhere in the UK for my weekend away. I do day trips. So I go and use the beaches and roads or whatever in other council areas without paying anything at all.

It’s ridiculous of anyone to complain that they can’t afford to live in an area they grew up in. Nobody is entitled to live in a particular place. If they want to live there so badly, just stay living with parents. And you know the parents can move if they want to be near the children who’ve moved.

2nd home owners don’t drive up social care costs. Your logic is too convoluted. They could even reduce the number of residents/home owners needing social care in that area.

Of course higher land prices drives up care costs. Its harder to find staff (leading to more recruitment/less retention) and it's harder to even open new facilities

And every visitor to an area benefits from council services being well run. Whether that is park maintenance, road maintenance or youth services

And this isn't about an individuals right to live near family, it's about the harm to us as a society when many people cant. The extra health costs and prescribing costs and the extra cost of adult care when older people are alone because all their children have moved away.

I can understand a selfish impulse not to care about individuals living near their family. We are certainly a very individualistic society and many are going to go along with that. But the reality is that when families and communities are fractured then more costs end up being shouldered by the state- childcare, elder care, counselling...

I do day trips. So I go and use the beaches and roads or whatever in other council areas without paying anything at all.

Aren't you lucky that other people pay for the roads and beaches you use? The people who live there, pay their council tax and contribute to their community. Making it a nice place for you to visit on your day trips.

2nd home owners don’t drive up social care costs. Your logic is too convoluted. They could even reduce the number of residents/home owners needing social care in that area.

What about the people who retire there?

Aren't you lucky that other people pay for the roads and beaches you use? The people who live there, pay their council tax and contribute to their community. Making it a nice place for you to visit on your day trips.

Perhaps we need toll booths at every county boundary to make sure nobody is getting something for nothing.

No one is getting anything for nothing. Things cost money, time and effort. Roads, water, social care, parks, beaches etc. They have to be maintained and paid for.

Surely all adults know this or am I missing something?

I mean, the people in the area that this PP visits for day trips are also welcome to go to other places for day trips, too, so it all evens out.

Also, daytrippers bring revenue.

Correct, but the PP I was replying to said that no one should be allowed to own a second home.

Nonsense!
Of course you can, take Exeter for example, not really a tourist destination as say St Ives or Newquay but an economy based on commerce.

You don't seem able to see that there is a balance to be struck, in Cornwall, that has swung too far in favour of Tourism etc.

Silly equivalence - second homeowners already pay a council tax and higher stamp duty - if you follow that through to car ownership then household with second or third cars should pay double VAT on those cars at the point of purchase and a higher road tax too? They don’t, though, so they?

...and where is Labour going to conjure up the money to build all these houses from?
Developers cannot be expected to build properties at below cost... and more building increases demand for trades - which we lack... and materials, increasing their costs even further...

So far, any tax rises are opposed tooth and nail by business & the wealthy and thanks to the Tories, we cannot borrow any significant amounts.

Aside, why people call Angela Rayner "Ange" and Rachel Reeves "Rachel from Accounts" is beyond me.

Very childish.

The damage caused to communities by second home ownership means they should be paying far far more in council tax .

Irrelevant to my comment, which was in response to a persons using car ownership as an equivalency.

No way multi millionaires can afford extra council tax, is that your theory?? But they can afford the cleaners, housekeepers, gardeners and other staff for their extra homes? Just not council tax??

Maybe they should. If one person owns more than one car - as a luxury, not talking about the builder who has a work van and a personal car.
But if you have a household with 2 adults and 3/4 cars perhaps those extra cars should be.m?

As we see with any tax increases, the wealthy will bitch moan and campaign to have them reversed

Just look at the VAT on school fees issue... they've used every trick in the book to justify why they shouldn't pay extra, even trying to say they've all got SENDS kids.... & they are all going to go state as they are all too poor to pay VAT..

Same with Nom Dom changes... they are all so fucking hard up..

2nd home CT should be a min 300%

Have a friend, single, no kids who owns their flat, 2 others and a house. Rents out the ones not lived in. Talks a lot about the ‘stress’ of owning ‘properties’ and had just retired on a generous final pension scheme so doesn’t need the income from the rentals to live on.
My suggestions that one or more are sold to save on the apparent stress are met with lectures about capital gains tax and finances and tax on income etc.

our seaside town is blighted with 2nd home owners, and lack of housing available for locals. This friend is deffo part of the problem, why a 60 year old with plenty of money, no family to pass the houses on to etc. needs to have 4 homes is beyond me. I have actually said that I’m not going to listen to complaining about it anymore!
Sell one, or 2 or 3, pay the dues or fees or whatever. Still be quids in. It’s not like you can take it with you.

Most of the families I know who have multiple cars have them because of multigenerational living and those 2nd/3rd cars are used to get people to work or college… so it’s largely lower income families, families with AC living at home for whatever reason (eg the ones in Cornwall who cannot afford to get onto the housing ladder and are living with parents) who would get penalised.

Luxury cars already attract higher VAT by virtue of the base price being higher. Paid with money they have already paid higher rate tax on. But hey, let’s just keep taxing the rich out of spite…

I did say PER adult. As in 2 adults and 4 cars.

If you have a driver per car that’s slightly different, no?

You can only drive one car at a time. So, what’s the problem with owning more than one?

Unlike owning a second home you aren’t using up valuable housing stock.

Not really - on that basis I will put my home into my husband’s name (marital asset so I still have benefit of ownership) and we buy our ‘second’ home in my name? One property per person… that would be slightly different too, wouldn’t it?

I also think full time living in the same county should be proved with properties in areas where housing is an issue.

I wouldn't disagree with that.
In fact we need more policies to discourage excessive car ownership/use.

It's clear that most people have a straightforward selfish imperative when it comes to decision making so the state needs to intervene more to protect society and the environment

I was talking to my niece about this over breakfast this morning. Her grandparents (on her dad's side) have just sold their holiday home in a coastal resort because of the increase in council tax. It was a little cottage. It has been bought by a young local family with a young child as their first home. Even her grandparents have realised that in selling they have not just freed up their finances they have also done something great for the local community. That young family get to live near friends and family and their jobs now. Their child will grow up knowing his grandparents well.

This!

I'm not convinced by the suggestion that second home owners don't spend money in the local area. We have a house in France - a non-touristy area where they welcome the crazy English who will buy a dilapidated but charming house and make it habitable as no one local wanted the job. We spend around two months of the year here, and with friends using the house as well it is probably occupied four months of the year. We go to the markets, the bakeries, the restaurants, the wine cave etc, they all know us and are very welcoming. We often have friends with us so that is more business.

I'd be very surprised if wealthy londoners with homes in Cornwall aren't doing the same - surely a large part of the attraction of Cornwall is going surfing and buying the equipment, going horse riding or cycling the camel trail (hiring bikes), buying pasties, cream teas, fish and chips, ice creams, crab sandwiches. Hiring fishing boats. Going to the fancy restaurants in Padstow, Falmouth and St Ives. Visiting the vineyards and cider orchards. Going to the outdoor theatres.