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.

It matters not who sold the property or who bought it.

That argument is a red herring.

This raise in CT is fully justified whoever the owner of the property is.

But I'd hazard a guess the ones owned by locals are rented out as holiday cottages not standing empty for 80% of the year.

It is not always as straightforward as you may think. I have a home in a coastal village, we bought with a view to retiring there as we have always loved the place. We are there a lot of the time as our adult children are. We all eat out every night and are in the pubs every night.
A lot of the locals moan that there aren't enough rentals in the village. However there is at least a dozen 2 and 3 bedroom homes for sale and at very low prices. The problem is they don't want to buy, they only want to rent. The thing is nobody wants to be a landlord anymore, due to rising costs and red tape. It is no longer something that is an attractive proposition. A lot of the people in this place are a bit arty and so don't have very much money, certainly not enough to buy. Many people would envy anyone who wanted to just pursue their art and admire the amazing views all day. Would certainly beat a stressful job in the city, but you can't always have your cake and eat it.

It is. It was a small block of 18 flats. A constant stream of temporary holidaymakers coming and going - he said he thought there were only 3 or 4 flats occupied by full time residents. Almost every day, different cleaning firms parking in the car park doing the changeover cleans for different flats. He had a quick look on Air BNB and other holiday let websites and found several on there, and that was just for a random date a few months away, so probably more that weren't available on that chosen date. It's utterly bonkers. This is a residential area - the middle of a big housing estate. But close to the ring road, so probably ideal for holiday makers due to ease of access to the main road network.

I have no idea how they can argue it's against their human rights!
No one has the right to own a second home.
Perhaps they can campaign for the human rights of people who don't even have one home.

Absolutely agree. No-one should have a second home until everyone has a first home. If I were dictator for a month I would requisition them all and let the locals buy them at a sensible price.

Yes no one considers the impact on London, Ive been priced out of my home, London for many years now. I cant move back to care for my parents, I cant afford it. London has many people living there from Cornwall, and tons of other places in the country, all to the effect of having priced me out. But thats ok apparently, because you know, Im just a Londoner so who cares.

couldn’t you transfer ownership to them if you don’t need the money to buy your new place?

I’m a second home owner, and I agree with the policy too.

I really like the "second home sad face " type of story. Its something funny to send to APILN.

Can't see the council going for a deliberate restriction in the price or origin of the purchasers when they're forcing a sale to pay for care fees, tbh.

Agree with @CornishTickler up to a point, but whatever additional income the council gets will be wasted on vanity projects not used to make practical improvements for the community (and then the only outcome is to punish).

You seem to be contradicting yourself here.
You say there are a dozen 2/3 bedroom homes for sale at v low prices but that locals don't want to buy and then go on to say that a lot of people don't have very much money, certainly not enough to buy. Which is it? It sounds to me as if the locals can't afford to buy the available properties, which I expect they would love to be able to do, because they don't have the income and savings needed. Second home owners in many areas have helped to push the prices up.

Government could just go all Communist and buy up every second home in the country. Kick the owners out by exempting them from CGT on the disposal to Government and any other incentive that might work.

Any property where the owner refused to sell to Gov could have punitive council tax, an annual second home charge, and double or triple CGT on disposal. Incentivise the arse out of it to encourage selling up, and help young FTBs (or others in need of housing) to buy. A certain amount held back for social needs.

I bet the money is there somewhere.

"But what about my rights as a property owner" I hear you say. I don't care, these are the new rules.

All said slightly tongue in cheek, btw. But still......

not sure though - if the 2nd home owners have to sell, and there are a few of them, then the buyers are in a stronger position to push down the price. There is a better chance, then, of the home going to a local.

And i find it hard to feel sorry for anyone who has the chutzpah to keep a 2nd home (even if it was granny's and has sentimental attachment) and then whine that they can't afford it. If you can't afford something, you can't have it. I have sympathy when the choice is heating or eating, or eating or not. I have much less sympathy when it is a place that lies empty most of the time. Book a hotel or holiday cottage. (and spend money in the area)

Exactly

If it’s the outsiders who are ‘pricing out locals’, any local seller has the option to sell at the old ‘local’ price to a local person, or, say, double that to an outsider.

I wonder why that offer is never made.

Why do we allow it at all? No-one needs two homes, no-one. Taxing them, having clauses in place and all that does something but not enough. It just means only the very rich can get around it and carry on.

Just make it illegal and stop any workarounds like having homes in different family member’s names. You buy a house, you live in it. If it’s left empty then you lose it because you obviously don’t need it.

if you go on holiday go to a hotel, resort, cabin etc

We have a second home. We spend 3-4 nights a week in it, i am in it now! We don’t rent it out but when we are not using it, friends and family do. And yes, we do contribute to the local economy. I have a weekly cleaner, gardener and a window cleaner. We use local shops, been to the fish mongers this morning and the local cafe for take away coffee. Paid to park with our annual pass that we buy. Going out for lunch to the local pub tomorrow. We refurbed the house when we bought it using local trades and products. We paid the extra stamp duty and yes we knew about the extra council tax and no we don’t have a “sad face” about it. We are the only second home on our street and we told the vendors it would be a second home. They were happy to sell it to us, obviously.

It's not either/or. Non residents owning UK property for investment purposes needs to be clamped down on as well.

People who RENT a week in someone elses holiday home probably do and if that property is rented out throught the year it may have a small economic boost locally but still not the same as having a family living there full time.

We find locally though that the issue is second home owners who don't typically commercially market their second homes for let to the great unwashed- it's literally their second home. So they visit weekends and holidays, perhaps let a few family members use it when they aren't there and they mostly turn up with a boot full of stuff from Waitrose and don't use the local businesses because they already have everything they need.

The rest of the time the house sits empty, the three bedrooms don't have any children in them going to the local school and keeping loval teachers, dinner ladies and TAs employed, the owners aren't using the local newsagent every week, they aren't contributing to the school fundraisers, the coffee mornings for the playground, the community litter picks or using the weekly bus service that's forever at risk of being cancelled.

Things like that matter in pretty little villages because they don't stay pretty for very long when the majority of the houses there are only lived in part time and they become sleepy ghost villages where the heart has been ripped out of them.

True. That person could have sold at a lower price to another local instead. It’s hard to say no to a higher offer.

Some do.

Some either don't care, or are just desperate to sell.

This is simply not the reality that we are experiencing.

Rental properties are very much in demand here. Wages do not support buying the properties.

But, regardless I'm sure you're happy to pay the increased council tax and contribute to the community rather than just patronising the locals. So thank you.

Presumably second home owners will either moan and pay or sell up if they can't afford to pay. More houses for sale will enable other people to buy them - prices will drop if there are more properties than buyers. People with actual links (like family or jobs) in the area, who live there permanently, will contribute more to the local economy and different businesses will flourish.

Punitive Stamp Duty on second homes is surely a way to discourage most from buying them, say 50%, along with a doubling, tripling or more of Council Tax, and a similar punitive CGT on disposal (other than to the Government as a buyer) say.