Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Sorry, I need to vent. Second home owners!

255 replies

Querlouse · 04/05/2020 09:02

I live in a small village in a quiet farming area. One of the old cottages was bought by a family from London about 18 months ago, they spent a long time getting planning permission but have now started works.

They are coming down and meeting mates there every weekend. Yesterday I walked past (footpath runs alongside house) and there were two massive flashy Landrovers not really relevant cars outside and three blokes, at least two women and four kids all hanging out in the big garden. The house is currently uninhabitable so they aren't staying there permanently.

Dh says just forget about it but its really annoying me! Our village is generally really old and we've had no cases of cv so far.

It's not OK to drive 3 hours from London to a village then meet mates is it??

OP posts:
pocketem · 04/05/2020 11:11

I live in a small village in a quiet farming area.

Is it a local village, for local people?

Sorry, I need to vent. Second home owners!
catdoctor · 04/05/2020 11:17

OP - if I were moving in next door to you - a move needing multiple lorry trips to shift 25 years’ worth of life plus multiple animals and livestock, what would you be thinking of me?

I’m not saying this is what your new neighbours are doing - I’m interested in your attitude towards what we need to be doing over the next 2 months.

SeasonFinale · 04/05/2020 11:22

I was with you OP until you said they have indicated it is to be their permanent home. Moving home is allowed. You said they may have lied about this but you simply don't know.

Lockdown has made people assume the worst of people.

Original poster
Querlouse · 04/05/2020 11:37

I was with you OP until you said they have indicated it is to be their permanent home. Moving home is allowed

I don't mind them moving here for whatever reason! I do mind them coming down for a jolly with their mates!

OP posts:
pfrench · 04/05/2020 11:40

If they are socially distancing from anyone they aren't 'choosing' to spend time with, then I don't see the problem.

Original poster
Querlouse · 04/05/2020 11:57

Lockdown has made people assume the worst of people

No, being on the parish council in an area where people want to buy second homes but know that will affect their chances of planning permission being accepted so they regularly lie about it, even going so far as to register their children at the local school. Then suddenly when the pp has been approved they decide it won't work so will stay in London. That is what makes you think the worst!

OP posts:
DisgruntledGuineaPig · 04/05/2020 12:02

But they arent spending time in your village are they? They are driving to the house and staying there. You've not said they'd been doing daily exercise or queuing up in the local butchers. Then they are going home. (So if they get sick from meeting each other, it'll be in their own homes in the cities they live in, not your local hospital treating them).

They are not risking you at all. except by raising your blood pressure

Original poster
Querlouse · 04/05/2020 12:06

They are not risking you at all

No, probably not. I've no idea if they are using the local shops or not. Possibly they are as we have a very good localish farm shop which I find it hard to believe a well off youngish London family would find hard to avoid Grin but I have no idea about that.

Presumably you'd have no issues with me bringing my family and a few friends up to a garden party in London?

OP posts:
BubblesBuddy · 04/05/2020 13:02

In most planning authorities, the second home issue and planning permission are not linked. In some places it is linked to NEW homes. This is utter twaddle about renovating a cottage and linking it with lying about planning permission. It’s not a new home! Why didn’t someone local buy it? No complaints then.

BubblesBuddy · 04/05/2020 13:05

Actually if you stayed in one large garden, no. What difference would it make? Do you own a large garden in London? We are going to have to let people visit their properties before long! I would take food with me. God forbid anyone uses local shops to keep them going! Now or in the future!

DisgruntledGuineaPig · 04/05/2020 14:00

No OP, I wouldn't (not in London BTW!). The risk to the local Londoners wouldn't be increased if you had no contact with them, and if you went home directly afterwards, if you had corona and was a few days off any symptoms, it'd be your local hospital treating you by the time you got ill.

really can't see what they are doing harms you or the locals at all. The only people being risked are the other family joining them. You don't appear to be worried about them at all.

Be honest, it's the 2nd home buying thats the real issue.

Original poster
Querlouse · 04/05/2020 14:34

This is utter twaddle about renovating a cottage and linking it with lying about planning permission

Are you saying that I'm lying? I suggest you go away and do some research about parish councils. We can approve or turn down local applications. We have no legal right to refuse applications, but councils can take into account what we say. When people apply for planning permission here they have to make a case to the council. That's when we hear all the stuff about relocating permanently, desperate to use the local school etc etc. That has happened three times in the last few years, including the new house people. Two of them are now second homes, the kids never set foot in the school!

I love new people moving here. I have no interest in this becoming a retirement village. We have a lovely little primary school and its great when new families move in with kids.

This isn't about new people moving in. It's about a group of mates driving down to the village for a bbq. I absolutely don't believe that you'd all be fine with that if it happened to you.

OP posts:
Original poster
Querlouse · 04/05/2020 14:36

Be honest, it's the 2nd home buying thats the real issue

No, it isnt Confused

OP posts:
Alsohuman · 04/05/2020 14:39

I absolutely don't believe that you'd all be fine with that if it happened to you

Well I would. If they stayed away from me and there was no danger of cross infection I wouldn’t give a shit. But then I’ve never been a stickler for rules just because they’re rules.

Original poster
Querlouse · 04/05/2020 14:46

Well, maybe you are right. I'm sure I'll hear about it at the next parish council meeting anyway as probably unbeknownst to them they have a bought a house next to one of the most, erm, vocal of our village residents, she also lives alone and is 70+ so I'm sure she'll have something to say about it.

OP posts:
BubblesBuddy · 04/05/2020 14:58

I hate to tell you but parish councils have no role in agreeing or not agreeing to planning applications. Thankfully I know all the rules. Parish councils are consultees. In law, they have no more rights or powers than local individuals. It’s the District Councils who are the planning authorities and write the policies. In Cornwall it’s a unitary authority and they do everything. So I strongly suggest, op, you read up on your legal powers, rights, and responsibilities regarding planning applications. You don’t have the ultimate power to agree to or not agree to anything. You are asked for your opinion but if this is contrary to local planning policies, they will be ignored.

BubblesBuddy · 04/05/2020 15:00

Planning permission is delegated to officers if it’s heard by the planning committee. What one noisy aged resident thinks is neither here nor there if the development meets policies.

Original poster
Querlouse · 04/05/2020 15:11

Bubbles, I am actuallyon a parish council.

I hate to tell you but parish councils have no role in agreeing or not agreeing to planning applications

We can accept or reject them. No, if the council decides to accept it it is neither here nor there whether we acceot it ir reject it in line with our parish plan. Absolutely and I have never said otherwise. My point was letters from people wanting to, as an example, demolish a small three bed cottage and build a huge five bedroom house often plead their case by saying how much they cant wait to relocate permanently, and then...poof.

I'm sorry you think parish councils are no better than "aged nosy residents". We've all been working very hard over the last 6 weeks making sure everyone living here permanently is safe, well and has food, medicine and all the other things that they need.

OP posts:
Original poster
Querlouse · 04/05/2020 15:12

We aren't in Cornwall Confused

OP posts:
DdraigGoch · 04/05/2020 15:15

The fact remains that people from multiple households aren't supposed to be mixing. It doesn't matter whether it takes place in London or in the Outer Hebrides, social events are cancelled until further notice.

Original poster
Querlouse · 04/05/2020 15:16

The fact remains that people from multiple households aren't supposed to be mixing

Thank you!

OP posts:
BubblesBuddy · 04/05/2020 17:55

Parish councils express an opinion on planning applications. I know plenty about planning and DH is a consultant on planning matters for house builders. I know exactly who makes the decisions and it isn’t parish councillors. You clearly did state that you did. Your parish plan would not state size of dwelling permitted. It states where can be developed within the parish and might include a design statement.

In addition the views of one noisy person doesn’t get taken into account unless their views correspond to planning policy. Whether people say they wish to move or not is usually nothing to do with pp. They are stupid even writing letters like this. The size of a dwelling is not regulated by parish policies. You are not the planning authority. It could be regulated by AONB and green belt polices or NP policies. I’m amazed you don’t know all of this as a parish councillor. My local parish council objects to development all the time but is over ridden because they are wrong and don’t even follow their own guidelines. Shame they are not fined for time wasting.

I’m glad your Coronavirus strategy is working for your community. I did say that meeting up wasn’t allowed but it doesn’t affect you directly. Are you starting up a campaign against these people? I recognise that type of person.

shinynewapple2020 · 04/05/2020 18:16

@SansaSnark how does owning a second home stop someone having consideration for others? Not talking of travelling to one in the current climate. Your statement 'you can't expect second home owners to have consideration for anyone else - if they did they wouldn't have a second home-'

RainMustFall · 04/05/2020 19:37

I don't have a second home and if I did I wouldn't travel to it at the current time. However, assuming their house is more than 2m away from yours, I think you should follow your DH's sensible advice. This has nothing to do with you, whether you're on the parish council or not and you need to concentrate on your own life because being blunt, this is really none of your business.

I'm astonished by the number of busybody, curtain twitchers who have revealed themselves since we've been in lockdown. Shock

ToffeeYoghurt · 04/05/2020 19:41

Why is it relevant where they came from?

Perhaps, being from London, they saw all the non essential flights arriving daily at Heathrow with no checks or quarantine and assumed lockdown had ended. It would be a bit strange to protect only the few (rural) and not the many (urban). They probably felt confused.