To think rich people shouldn’t be allowed to buy multiple houses when others can’t afford one?

[YourTealBalonz]

I know people say “it’s their money” but I genuinely think the housing crisis is made worse by second-home buyers and landlords snapping up properties just to sit on them. It drives up prices and freezes people out of the market. I’m glad council tax rules are starting to push back on this. AIBU to think second home ownership should be discouraged more openly?

Or just be lucky, as in inherit a house from parents.

@lemonts agree, single occupation of houses was 10% in the early 1970’s it’s now at around 33%. People living longer, couples breaking up and some just wanting to live alone and be single. This is a monumental societal shift.

If you go back to the 1960s (which was a prosperous time).single parents didn't qualify for Council housing. They were provided for stable hardworking, low paid families.

Increased immigration and marriage collapse has contributed to the current state of UK housing. Harsh but true.

The problem is not second home owners; the problem is people who do not live in the UK, have never lived here and have no intention of ever living here buying housing stock as an investment. The government could stop this easily.

Isn't that the large corporations who are taking over from the private landlord The government encourage this.

Exactly. Dh and I are small time landlords. What you’re saying is ridiculous op. When dh and I went into this, the government at the time was practically begging people to become landlords. We have been demonised and scapegoated. We aren’t the ones, who pushed house prices up when we bought over 20 years ago. That’s the likes of Russian oligarchs, whom the previous government allowed to buy up swathes of cities, predominantly London, often to large scale launder money for about a decade. That was a main driver at making house prices rocket, not private landlords. And dh and I don’t have a second home. Second homes sitting empty, not ok. But still is leaving fingers pointing in the wrong direction and just government cover up. Let’s talk about the mass of apartment blocks owned by foreign investors sitting empty in London for over a decade.

Yes and often these are foreign companies. See my post just above.

I think you have to consider what houses second home owners are buying. Picturesque villages with no jobs would probably end up empty. Parts of London that have second homes aren't affordable for the people you are thinking of. You need some people to be landlords in more practical areas because some people want to rent. I needed to rent for 3 years when I needed to be near my job but didn't want to buy. My landlord lived in Hong Kong. I felt no resentment towards him. Before that I was renting in 3 different areas, also off private landlords. I didn't want to buy in any of those places because I wasn't settled as I was training and moving jobs.

Many foreign countries don’t permit home ownership for overseas nationals without some sort of strict residence qualification. Governments of all colours in the UK allow foreign nationals to buy prime residential property “off plan” as an investment, and then to leave it standing idle, because it’s cheaper to do that than to let it. There are loads of empty flats in London because of this, which I think is wicked. It’s not people buying a second flat because they’ve got a temporary job miles from home, and then subsequently letting it, or small landlords with one or two houses they are renting out that is the problem. And immigration also plays a part - according to the Migration Observatory, “More than half (65%) of the increase in the UK population between 2004 and 2023 was due to the direct contribution of net migration. Since 2020, almost all of the growth in the population has come from net migration.”. All these people need somewhere to live, and if we are not building enough houses to keep up with this influx, then both rents and house prices will continue to rise.

How do you suppose people will rent houses if no one buys a second one?

It's a very common misconception that renters pay off the landlords mortgage of the rented property.
The vast majority of landlords will have an interest only mortgage, with at least a 25% deposit of their own money invested in it. With an interest only mortgage, the same amount is owed at the end of the 25 year term as at the beginning. Therefore renters are not actually paying off the mortgage at all.

Christ, yet another post started by people who don’t understand basic economics

We rent and for our last three rentals we’ve had to move due to landlords wanting to sell. It’s hard to find rentals - we need more people to want to be landlords not less.

This

Of course social housing is subsidised. This government has announced £39bn of funding for new social and affordable housing, what is that if not subsidy?
And so it should be, my only issue with it is there needs to be more, waiting lists are enormous, millions of people are unsuitably housed, families on very limited budgets with no access to cooking or laundry facilities. It’s awful. Anecdotally it seems the changes to RTB have limited the outflow of stock but we need far, far more.

We need rental properties

Amd, whilst i didn't love my neughbours' house being rented as an Airbnb, i can see that visitors spend money locally', and it was pretty busy all year round

I have an issue with people buying second homes for their own use only, that sit empty most of the year

Saying this as someone who could afford a reasonably priced mortgage if house prices were lower, but can't afford the extortionate rate in my area on a single wage, YABU. The sorts of houses bought by the wealthy who want a second/holiday home aren't properties I could ever afford anyway. You'd be better off like someone else said insisting on change of use for short term let's/air b n b s/private holiday homes and taxing accordingly with local councils using this to supply affordable housing in the area

How is someone on benefits paying back into the system? They are net takers, surely?

There's a shortage for people who cannot afford to buy one. Private rentals have become extortionate because the demand is so high. Most new builds are 3+ bed detached homes that first time buyers cannot afford. This massively adds to the demand, and leads to a housing shortage.

I really don't care how other people chose to spend their money. Plus, as others have said, without people owning more than one, we'd have no rental properties - and some people actually do prefer to rent as it suits their lifestyle.

I think one of the few things drakeford was right about in Wales (he just left it several decades too late) was the need to tax underoccupied second homes, and the attempt to have change off use planning permission laws for holiday lets (which seems to have now failed).

I have no issues with well used holiday let businesses in viable properties in viable areas (much of Wales relies on tourism for income). But believe that if people can afford a second (or additional) home sat empty most of the time, they can afford to contribute to the local community via taxes, so the communities don't loose out from their privaleged position.

Totally agree with the first half of your post.

This. There is an affordability problem as too many people either don't earn enough or don't earn anything. The welfare system cannot cope with the expanding numbers and afford property for them all.

Rich people won't be buying properties which people looking to get on the property ladder will be considering. Those properties are being bought up by big companies with foreign money ... that's the problem.

Me too. They've done this in Australia.