I come from an area on the north yorks coast that has a lot of holiday homes.
There's always been holiday homes in my home village -either second homes i.e. not rented, used by family - GrandPs, parents, kids, GKs etc or holiday homes rented out as a business.
Te last 15 years has seen the number increase to such a level that they are a nuisance and not popular with the people left living in the areas.
Some observations:
- 'Will sleep x'.
A house that you would think would comfortably house 2 adults and 2 kids will be advertised as sleeps 4 adults and 4 kids.
Typically 5 or 6 adults will turn up and 5 to 8 kids.
Its much more hell than it even sounds.
Imagine a rainy day where the adults are drunk and the kids bored. These sort of situations end up in police, divorces, affairs, fights etc.
- I would never live next to a rented holiday home. My cousin was one of the last locals left living i nthe old part of our village. He unwillingly sold up when both his neighbours became holdaiy homes. When he moved in (92) his neighbours and 60% of the other houses in his terrace were OO. When he left (06) he was the last OO left.
In summer holidays it is like living next to a mad house from of drunks. My cousin had people puking outside his door, people BBQing at 3am.
There needs to be better licensing off holiday homes just for the nuisance factor on the residents. A 3 strikes and removal of license.
Its different for seconds homes. I know a few families who have been bought their houses several decades ago and now know their grandkids. You tend to not have problems with these. In fact my mums looks after a few houses keys for people and checks the house - thats checks not maintains - the house in winter.
To make a seocnd home work you most live near (les than 100 miles) and have a large family to make use of it. Its just too expensive for a single family to do.
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They really do affect the local population. My home town has seen a vast chunk of low paid residents move out 10 miles to a crappy, cheaper town. They say its not fair and I tend to agree.
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AFAICT you cannot make money from a holiday home. Don't ry and justify it as an investment. If you are renting then you can only rely on the school holidays. Rightmove for the local area constantly lists holiday home that have been bought and their owners are trying to exit.
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Unless you are cleaning the place yourself, you will need to pay someone a lot of money to do the changeover. Saturday changeovers cost £100. Thats for 3 hours cleaning. If your cleaner lets you down - and they will - you can get an emergency one but it'll cost you double.
You can expect about one 'dirty protest' a year. See 1) and lots of adults getting drunk and going nuts. I've seen - I did not go in - a cottage that had had the entire ground floor's walls covered in shit. It was let to a couple of drunks on a last chance make up or break up holiday. They broke up. The bloke spent the next week drinking and smearing shit round the house. I've seen it in B+Bs and hotel rooms too.
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Be honest about how much time and money you spend maintaing your own home. Double it - Triple it - see 1) Drunks + dirty protests.
Going back to my cousins, me + brothers had to break into one place over winter as the pipes had burst and side path was flooding and freezing. We did not hav any contact. By the time we'd entered the ground floor roof had fallen in. The owner went bust. There is a reason why insurerance companies isnist a house is not left empty for more than 4 weeks.
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Holiday rental companies will take 25% of the rent for doing very little. People complain about EAs. They should see shoddy practise from holiday let people.
I expect most of the post 2000 holiday rentals to be sold at a loss. These places are gushing losses - I heard one pissed up owned in the pub complaining that their 'investment' was costing them 4K a year. They'd had to come over and do the change over as their cleaner had gone on holiday. They had to check themselves into an expensive hotel - the only one that had rooms - overnight. Nuts!
You see holiday homes get listed on RM. And there they stay. The prices were bid up, way out of local pockets when the bought in. There are very few buyers left these days - you'll get laughed out of the bank if you try and get a mortgage for a holiday let these days.
Look, end of day, the UK is not a good, all-round holiday destination. Its too expensive, too cold, too rainy. You can go on all all-inc 2 weeks somewhere hot + sunny for the cost of a 4 bedroom cottage + a few meals out.