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.

Not entirely true, the empty home premium is not the same as the second home levy.

Empty homes are just that - empty. No furniture, you couldn't spend the night there. Second homes are fully furnished and lived in for a specified minimum number of nights per year, your home insurance comes under a different policy type etc.

Councils will have 2 separate policies covering both scenarios.

Maybe there does need to be a category of 'irregular use', and a council tax rate between normal living and irregular use to include second homes, additionally owners of homes let out as holiday cottages etc can afford to pay a much higher rate, they certainly charge enough in rent, here in North Norfolk!
Occasionally houses etc offered for sale have a restrictioned covenant applied, usually only local people are eligible to buy, maybe that needs extending too.

It's not always that simple, I have a second property bought in my early 20s, when the cladding scandal unfolded it was deemed unsafe and unsellable (valued at a nominal £1). It was the most horrendous situation as I was pregnant and wanting to move. In the end we had to buy a house (mortgage in my husbands name only).

The flat sat empty for 5 years, I didn't want to live with my children somewhere unsafe and also didn't feel comfortable renting it to anyone as I didn't want to feel responsible for a stranger if the worst was to happen.

Not relevant for this discussion but it irritates me when people with 2 properties are all tarnished with the same brush. I had to continue to pay TC and horrendously large service charges (building insurance rocketed 550%) and 6 years later I'm still suffering crippling bills.

I agree that 2nd homes shouldn't be allowed especially in areas which have housing problems. It's not just elitism but elitism that harms other people and communities. It should be something that isn't socially acceptable. Landlords are different though. We do need landlords - perhaps just a bit more regulation to stop the nasty ones.

@Bloodyhotbifolds does she not have to pay ground rent fees?

A lot of these places dont have decent transport to anywhere either, how on earth would people get to and from work if they're not drivers, and half the time these holiday cottages have no parking.

How do tourists get there then?

It's worth repeating this pp.

It's full on holiday season here. my daughter has picked up four shifts over three weeks the longest is four hours, no paid breaks. It's pocket money not a living.

Second home owners were a big reason a crematorium and natural burial ground were turned down. Our ride out to the next nearest is over an hour, just one way. It's brutal.

Not where we live there aren’t 🤣. Which doesn’t help with the moving situation. We’re outskirts of Nottingham, not exactly a hub for second home owners.

Not where I live- 2 and 3 bedroom houses get snapped up. Look on any cottage rental site. The most popular are 2 or 3 bedroom.

I have a relative who owns five properties, only two of which are rented out. She's retired so flits between the other three, spending a week or two at each. She threw a proper tantrum when this was announced last year. Complained to two of the councils, claiming she should get special treatment. There are no mitigating factors, she just thinks she's important/special. I'm glad they're doing this, hopefully the extra council tax will benefit the local communities.

You aren't living and working in the area though.

A family living in your second home would be working locally, using the facilities, e.g nurseries, schools, health care provision, leisure facilities, joining local social/activity groups, volunteering locally, keeping an eye on neighbours even helping out older neighbours, generally keeping the place alive and allowing the council to justify the cost of providing the services mentioned above.

They might even employ and gardener or cleaner, that isn't exclusive to second home owners.....🙄

My council is about to mothball several nurseries as there are hardly any kids left in the rural villages due to all the properties being snapped up for second homes. These once vibrant community spirited villages have been decimated as locals cannot afford the ridiculous prices.

That traps them in the same house, and together. Equally unable to move out/on.
We’ll just have to stay put until they work out where they need to be, and go then.

I’d like them to introduce nationally the need to prove residence to buy property - live in London where there are blocks and blocks of apartments which were bought as an investment property, never lived in and never rented out. I’ve lived in London all my life as has my mother/father and their families going back generations. My children have no chance to buy and while I get that people say “so buy a long way from London” their roots and family connections/help is here. I told them when applying for uni to apply a long way away and stay there (nicely - obvs would prefer them to be nearer) due to cost of living. But home they came.
I also agree with the double council tax for second homes.
A family member has a second home which they let out most of the year. Was inherited. They don’t begrudge the council tax rise at all.

Which brings be back to the point I made upthread - the housing issue is much more complex and hugely variable by area. What you see is very different from what I have seen.

The only commonality is employment - good employment is always going to be the main prerequisite for a community to thrive and provide opportunity. The rest is window dressing.

And where is all this local work? The small proportion of homes nationally owned by the stereotyped outsider as second homes are clustered in areas with low employment.

These are also areas which attract high numbers of retirees who also don't use local nurseries or schools but who regularly form the backbone of local volunteer services (the classic third ager voluntary work). Would you ban them as well?

Honestly I think the increase in tax will make so little difference to the housing market that it smacks of "something must be done, this is something". The problem of long term lack of an industrial or transport strategy is not going to be superseded even by selling every one of the 160k second homes tomorrow.

@Bubblesgunwhat’s the netberland? If you’re talking about The Netherlands that’s only the case with shared ownership schemes. Anyone can buy a house by private sale. There’s a huge housing crisis there too. Average house price in the country is €400k.

Somewhere back in time, local property owners in popular destinations decided to sell their properties at inflated prices to outsiders. They could have kept the prices at a reasonable level and sold to local people. They chose to be greedy and now this is the situation they are in🤷🏻‍♀️ as someone has already said, the second homers will either be able to pay the council tax or will sell up. Just my thoughts☹️

how exactly did second home ownership stop a crematorium being established?

But - get rid of the tourists by banning second home ownership altogether. Then what work is there for your daughter?

Holiday makers bring revenue. Absentee second home owners do not

Ha ha Tourists become 2nd home owners.....

But the blame for much of the problem of locals not being able to afford to live here should also be passed to councils... around the Cornish village i live nr, not a single affordable to buy or to rent has been built in at least 30 years, plenty of houses built ALL luxury, river front, valley views.

The many large estates being built in SE Cornwall are usually snapped up by people moving down here/bought as rentals/airbnb.

Most locals can't afford 300k for house & thats what was classed as "affordable" in a nearby town.

So whilst 2nd home owners should be taxed imho, far more than double CT, the fact is, locals wouldn't be able to afford many of these houses regardless.

I don’t have dc so I don’t use a nursery or school wherever I live. I do volunteer locally and I am part of a local walking group. I also attend weekly yoga classes and I’m currently applying to be a mentor for young people in the area. I also do keep an eye on my neighbours, particularly the elderly ones next door. I regularly get shopping for them and I pay my gardener to mow their lawns because they often can’t manage. Not all second home owners flit in and out without a care for the area or the people in it.

Does St Ives benefit too from this? Has it prospered with jobs etc if you compare it to a place where there’s lower movement or attraction.

It seems to be an issue on a country level too. Eg Spain has attracted people with lower taxes but others are protesting on house prices. I haven’t looked into it too much but the tension between attractive and prosperity v house prices is a tricky one.

Honestly, yes.

The rental market in the UK is completely dysfunctional and part of that is because so many houses are owned by micro-landlords who own a couple of houses on BTL mortgages or the private landlords who build up a portfolio of dumps that they then rent out at outrageous levels, absolute scalping people.

I would much rather that rental properties were owned by councils, social landlords and - as in Germany and the NL - big companies owned by pension funds and the like who manage property properly.

So what do you think will happen if people can't come from outside to use it as a holiday home or rent it out for profit?

But at least they’ll be contributing more to the local services through the council

I totally support this. I have stayed for free in a friends holiday cottage, she was happy with this as it stands empty most of the time. Lots of second homes in the surrounding villages as well. In the summer holidays apparently it is busy, but when we went in the spring the villages were pretty empty.
My DH was raised in a village where few locals can now afford to live. Some is people retiring there, but also second homes sitting empty most of the time.