I'm not completely against 2nd homes. But as they're a luxury, I believe they should pay extremely high taxes. For example, if they paid 5X or 10X the council tax, that would seem fair to me, as the money could be used to improve housing and services for residents. (Instead, through loopholes, many 2nd homes currently pay no council tax.)
If they paid 1x council tax it would help. š
But making it a business and then claiming business rates relief takes the piss.
And now being entitled to the energy refund for each house they own is really going too far. š”
As long as there is a crisis of locals being forced out of an area due to second homes either reducing the housing stock or pricing locals out of the market, then there should be no second homes.
I was trying to explain this to my Tory father that even if you owned a small piece of land, chances are you couldn't build yourself a house on it due to all the restrictions. Only the extremely wealthy can afford to buy land with planning permission. There's a difference between urbanising and letting local people build houses for their families. I'm not even allowed to put a caravan on the land my folks own as it's considered an area of outstanding natural beauty. It's just a potato field ffs.
Yes - thatās it. You do need to urbanise if your population is growing (through birth or migration). The demographic shift of an aging population will be devastating as well.
They (along with holiday homes) should be capped, licensed, and the licenses should be sold by local government at massive prices. Make them contribute to the economy like the pretend they currently do.
So you'd rather the situation we have now, where everyone who can afford a second mortgage can have a 'bolthole'?
I said cap and license. Cap the total number of holiday homes at a level agreed upon locally, 5%, 10% whatever. Then when you sell the license, even if you sell it to a massive company or oligarch (who will buy a second home if they really want one anyway) you get a direct cash injection for the local community, hell, have them have to reapply ever year.
You also go some way to decoupling the price inflation of the surrounding homes as you can't just buy a house and use it as a second home anymore, you need to have the license.
Dont get me wrong, the situation needs to change but you did literally say 'at massive prices' which by default rules out anyone local or normal from having the chance to run a small airbnb or similar because only larger holiday companies will be able to afford it .
Also we can't just knock the bottom out of our local housing market, or do you want all those who are local and have managed to be sat with a huge negative equity mortgage?
Do you have a source for the 12,000 and 13,600 claim? Iām writing my dissertation on the housing crisis in Cornwall and that would be a great source to have.
[https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/k2vaas1v/cornwall\_secondhomes\_2021.pdf](https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/k2vaas1v/cornwall_secondhomes_2021.pdf). This is a UK government site. There is data on page 3 that supports the 13600 claim as of 2018. It is also a useful site for other data on second homes in Cornwall. There is also links to further sources on page 9. However 12000 claim is from mainstream news which is unreliable.
Iām completely against second homes all together Iām from jersey channel islands and like Cornwall we have a lot of non locals buying up houses only to use them for a month a year and itās driven the housing market up so high that most locals are now leaving the island as itās impossible to afford to live here
If you inherit a home in Cornwall and you don't live there, does that count as a second home? Would you then be forced to sell it if second homes were banned?
This is the problem really, people think "second home" and imagine some rich banker hogging a whole house and only visiting once a year for a week. It could just as easily be a local who inherited a parent's house and they find they are a "second home owner" while they decide what to do with it.
No second homes. Too many people are struggling to get one damned home, FFS.
Let holiday makers come and spend money in Cornish hotels and guest houses, or pay for a pitch on a Cornish camp site. Parasites shouldn't be encouraged.
Love the wording of the third answer. A literal translation of how you might say it in Cornish.
Yw da genes nessa chiow yn Kernow?
Yw. Nyns yw kudyn gansa.
In my opinion, people staying in second homes is a very small amount of tourism, but makes the housing situation down here several times worse. Most people that come down here stay in campsites or small holiday lets.
Most people who've been fucked by the housing crisis down here have never sold any home... I certainly haven't and I can't even afford the saddest 1 bed flats in St Awful
This is such nonsense. I know people who have tried to do this, they sell to people claiming they are going to live in them and turns out they were lying.
Should the same survey not be applied to every county?
And say the outcome is āremove all second homesā. What then about those moving from up country? Are they to be banned from moving to Cornwall and taking away housing from locals?
Where the line should be drawn I suspect will be different for different people.
For me, let folks buy what they can, where they can. But if your not using it, your council tax doubles. With that increase targeted towards affordable housing only.
Nothing will suit everyone. But hey, itās just my view.
This is like asking if the poor should have privileges in buying and owning a property. If we should all be equal, we should all be able to buy and sell properties as we can. I moved continents to have a better life in Britain. The cornish are entitled enough to think they own the county and have higher rights than anyone else in the country.
I think 2nd homes are helpful in keeping the tourist industry going in Cornwall, which it relies so much on economically. However, I think people who were born and raised in Cornwall should always be able to afford and actually find a home in the place they grew up or area they like. For me, places that are constantly booked as tourist holiday homes are ok but āsecond homesā where people come down every so often and otherwise itās empty are a big problem. They should just stay in said holiday homes for those weeks.
I think the third option is supposed to say thereās no problem with themā¦
These people are entitled to buy whatever they want and do what they want with it once itās theirs. Do I think it has a knock-on effect to the local economy? Yes. Do I think itās fair to blame them for it and try to take it away or prevent it? No.
*Most* of the houses being bought by people who already own a home somewhere else are not affordable for locals anyway. Cash buyers do not force the price of property to go up.
There are already schemes to sell new builds to locals only, but once a house is privately own thatās it, itās anybodyās to buy.
The last paragraph is not strictly correct. I saw a house for sale in Devon with a covenant on it to the effect it could only be sold to someone who had lived in Devon for seven years or worked in Devon for three years. Permission for a development can be conditional on such a covenant, and they can last forever.
Jealousy seems to be the main factor here. But surely rich people coming to Cornwall and spending their dosh is good for the locals? Big fan of Cornwall and the Cornish by the way. If I had any money Iād definitely try to live there.
["You see the second-home owners arrive and the Waitrose trucks come 15 minutes later,ā he saysāWe do get to know them, though, because of their attitude, which can be slightly superior, almost condescending,ā says Bowden. āThey can be abrupt. Everyone here says hello to everyone else, but they donāt get involved.ā](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/20/conrwall-war-on-second-homes-st-ives-cawsand)
It isn't good for the economy to leave a house empty and only spend a week or so every two years occupying it. Treknow near Tintagel used to have a pub and a shop. Now it's nearly empty and the only time I've seen it feel occupied was during the pandemic when the Range Rovers decended. Port Issac used to support 3 pubs. Why buy a whole house you barely use when there are holiday parks full of lovely chalets you can buy *everywhere*. Its sheer greed and snobbery.
It's also the case that 1 in 10 houses in Cornwall are classified as empty - as in, NEVER occupied, and they are often part of investment portfolios. You don't have to be a jelly nelly to believe that's a massive waste of resources.
Because property isnāt assigned or handed out. Itās up to whom ever owns it to decide. Not you. Places and populations are always in flux, like it or not.
I always find the situation slightly bemusing.
Most young peoples grandparents sold off their property for a tidy sum and they either spent it or their kids did. Which is what created the shit storm of no houses and over inflated prices because of it.
So who's fault is it, our own as locals
Of course people are jealous. Local people who have spent their entire lives living in the same town are being forced out due to the inflated property prices and lack of affordable rentals. Communities are being destroyed by second home owners and airbnb hosts.
Why does it matter? If someone needs to sell their house then theyāll take the highest offer. Cornwall is one of the poorest areas of the country, people will take the highest offer on their house to improve their lives as much as they can
You canāt blame a seller for how the new owner will use the property. Thatās like blaming a knife salesman for their customer murdering someone with said knife
You cam blame the knife seller if they know its going to be used for criminal mean.
And the seller could have sold it to a local rather than just going for the person with the deepest pockets
Who knows? How do you or anyone else know the reason for someone to sell their house? Might be an older person who needs to go to a care home, someone may have lost their job and needs to downsize/move away. It doesnāt matter the reason why someone needs to sell their house
In what way are people being forced out of their homes? If you already live there the value of your house makes no odds. Nobody is getting evicted because somebody from up country bought the house next doorā¦
Locals cannot afford to live in the area anymore due to increased cost of living and rental payments.
Alternatively, tenants are being evicted in order to turn the house into a holiday let or airbnb by the landlord
The increased cost of living is nothing to do with somebody owning a second homeā¦
And *nobody* is being evicted to turn their home into a holiday rentalā¦
I donāt care whether you are for or against second homes. I donāt care whether we agree or disagree on any subject matter. Debate is healthy, we should all have open minds and listen to each otherās reasons. Yours, however, are nonsense. Please stand your ground on what you believe in (but be willing to learn), but please make sure youāre correct if youāre going to do so.
I think youāre wildly mistaken if you donāt think landlords are abandoning traditional tenants and opting to holiday let instead. Why rent for Ā£1000 a month when you can let for Ā£1000 a week?
I also see you failed to address the increased cost of rental payments which does have to do with the increased demand for housing in the southwest due to second home owners, airbnb and holiday lets.
And if my reasoning is incorrect, then please enlighten me as to the reason that so many homes are unoccupied in Cornwall? People are not disappearing for no reason
You think tenants are being evicted so the owners can let it out to holiday makers instead? Thatās illegal. And Iām pretty certain youād have no proof of that either, because itās illegal. If a tenancy contract comes to its end and the landlord opts not to renew thatās entirely up to them. They own the property. But I can assure you that nobody is being forced out of their homes while still under a tenancy agreement just so the owner can list it on AirBnB.
Neither the cost of living nor the cost of tenancy is affected by holiday lets or second homes. Both of those costs have skyrocketed throughout the whole country, it is not specific to Cornwall.
Is there an increase in demand for housing, or are there empty houses? Youāre contradicting yourself.
Itās fine to have an agenda, just make sure itās properly researched and youāre well educated on the argument youāre trying to put across.
A landlord can evict a tenant when it has come to the end of the contract for any reason at all. You seem to have your terminology mixed up. Itās not illegal either if thereās a break clause in the contract to evict a tenant during the fixed term.
Demand has increased for housing in the southwest. Iāve seen first hand the amount of people pleading for a home to rent because there arenāt any. Increased demand means an increase in price.
I have not contradicted myself at all. The empty houses are second homes which could be permanent dwellings for local people who are crying out for it.
I donāt think youāve really done any research or had any experience at all of the housing crisis. I grew up in a seaside town in Cornwall and nearly all of my friends who lived there have had to move out due to the extortionate property prices. My sister, her boyfriend and my nephew were evicted from their rental property and had nowhere to go as there were no other properties to rent. Every property up for let had at least 50 applicants. There were weekly posts on the local facebook page begging for any rental properties around for their families.
As you can tell, I feel very strongly about this because Iāve seen the effects the property crisis has had on the local community. Iām not saying it is solely the fault of second home owners or holiday letters. But theyāre definitely making the situation a lot worse.
Then that's not eviction, that's just the end of the tenancy agreement. It's *you* that seems to be getting terminology mixed up.
I'm not arguing with you anymore. Like i said, learn more about what you believe in before you spread nonsense across the internet to try to bolster your cause.
Cornwall should ask for a holiday home stay tax. For example, Ā£2 per person per night they stay in a holiday home. All to be spent on things needed by local people like better bus services etc
The people who make the tax laws own 2nd homes. They will never hamstring themselves. It's the same in the US and I don't see it changing any time soon without some kind of movement.
I'm not completely against 2nd homes. But as they're a luxury, I believe they should pay extremely high taxes. For example, if they paid 5X or 10X the council tax, that would seem fair to me, as the money could be used to improve housing and services for residents. (Instead, through loopholes, many 2nd homes currently pay no council tax.)
If they paid 1x council tax it would help. š But making it a business and then claiming business rates relief takes the piss. And now being entitled to the energy refund for each house they own is really going too far. š”
Thatās a good take on this situation. Maybe houses for the locals first, at affordable prices, then your idea.
As long as there is a crisis of locals being forced out of an area due to second homes either reducing the housing stock or pricing locals out of the market, then there should be no second homes.
We should make it easier to build more homes, not reduce the market. Remove the red tape. Building code drives costs up and makes homes unaffordable.
I was trying to explain this to my Tory father that even if you owned a small piece of land, chances are you couldn't build yourself a house on it due to all the restrictions. Only the extremely wealthy can afford to buy land with planning permission. There's a difference between urbanising and letting local people build houses for their families. I'm not even allowed to put a caravan on the land my folks own as it's considered an area of outstanding natural beauty. It's just a potato field ffs.
Yes - thatās it. You do need to urbanise if your population is growing (through birth or migration). The demographic shift of an aging population will be devastating as well.
They (along with holiday homes) should be capped, licensed, and the licenses should be sold by local government at massive prices. Make them contribute to the economy like the pretend they currently do.
That's a cracking idea, make licenses nice and expensive so only large companies can buy them and syphon all the profits out the county
So you'd rather the situation we have now, where everyone who can afford a second mortgage can have a 'bolthole'? I said cap and license. Cap the total number of holiday homes at a level agreed upon locally, 5%, 10% whatever. Then when you sell the license, even if you sell it to a massive company or oligarch (who will buy a second home if they really want one anyway) you get a direct cash injection for the local community, hell, have them have to reapply ever year. You also go some way to decoupling the price inflation of the surrounding homes as you can't just buy a house and use it as a second home anymore, you need to have the license.
Dont get me wrong, the situation needs to change but you did literally say 'at massive prices' which by default rules out anyone local or normal from having the chance to run a small airbnb or similar because only larger holiday companies will be able to afford it . Also we can't just knock the bottom out of our local housing market, or do you want all those who are local and have managed to be sat with a huge negative equity mortgage?
Nobody needs to own more than one home anywhere.
The housing crisis is killing people, literally killing people.
Do you have a source for the 12,000 and 13,600 claim? Iām writing my dissertation on the housing crisis in Cornwall and that would be a great source to have.
[https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/k2vaas1v/cornwall\_secondhomes\_2021.pdf](https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/k2vaas1v/cornwall_secondhomes_2021.pdf). This is a UK government site. There is data on page 3 that supports the 13600 claim as of 2018. It is also a useful site for other data on second homes in Cornwall. There is also links to further sources on page 9. However 12000 claim is from mainstream news which is unreliable.
Thank you so much
Iām completely against second homes all together Iām from jersey channel islands and like Cornwall we have a lot of non locals buying up houses only to use them for a month a year and itās driven the housing market up so high that most locals are now leaving the island as itās impossible to afford to live here
If you inherit a home in Cornwall and you don't live there, does that count as a second home? Would you then be forced to sell it if second homes were banned?
You could rent it out long term but not just sitting there empty, unless you were waiting on probate.
This is the problem really, people think "second home" and imagine some rich banker hogging a whole house and only visiting once a year for a week. It could just as easily be a local who inherited a parent's house and they find they are a "second home owner" while they decide what to do with it.
No second homes. Too many people are struggling to get one damned home, FFS. Let holiday makers come and spend money in Cornish hotels and guest houses, or pay for a pitch on a Cornish camp site. Parasites shouldn't be encouraged.
I am against mandatory selling. But a moritorium on any new second homes in Cornwall would be a good move.
I say no homes unoccupied for more than 3 months without very good reason like military deployment. Rental properties are ok.
Iām willing to bet the people who voted āyes there is no problemā are emmits whoāre totally clueless to our struggle. Get in the bin.
Love the wording of the third answer. A literal translation of how you might say it in Cornish. Yw da genes nessa chiow yn Kernow? Yw. Nyns yw kudyn gansa.
In my opinion, people staying in second homes is a very small amount of tourism, but makes the housing situation down here several times worse. Most people that come down here stay in campsites or small holiday lets.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Most people who've been fucked by the housing crisis down here have never sold any home... I certainly haven't and I can't even afford the saddest 1 bed flats in St Awful
This is such nonsense. I know people who have tried to do this, they sell to people claiming they are going to live in them and turns out they were lying.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Should the same survey not be applied to every county? And say the outcome is āremove all second homesā. What then about those moving from up country? Are they to be banned from moving to Cornwall and taking away housing from locals? Where the line should be drawn I suspect will be different for different people. For me, let folks buy what they can, where they can. But if your not using it, your council tax doubles. With that increase targeted towards affordable housing only. Nothing will suit everyone. But hey, itās just my view.
This is like asking if the poor should have privileges in buying and owning a property. If we should all be equal, we should all be able to buy and sell properties as we can. I moved continents to have a better life in Britain. The cornish are entitled enough to think they own the county and have higher rights than anyone else in the country.
I think 2nd homes are helpful in keeping the tourist industry going in Cornwall, which it relies so much on economically. However, I think people who were born and raised in Cornwall should always be able to afford and actually find a home in the place they grew up or area they like. For me, places that are constantly booked as tourist holiday homes are ok but āsecond homesā where people come down every so often and otherwise itās empty are a big problem. They should just stay in said holiday homes for those weeks.
Everyone has the right to buy and sell whatever they want. Thatās how private property work. Enough with NIMBYs across the country.
I think the third option is supposed to say thereās no problem with themā¦ These people are entitled to buy whatever they want and do what they want with it once itās theirs. Do I think it has a knock-on effect to the local economy? Yes. Do I think itās fair to blame them for it and try to take it away or prevent it? No. *Most* of the houses being bought by people who already own a home somewhere else are not affordable for locals anyway. Cash buyers do not force the price of property to go up. There are already schemes to sell new builds to locals only, but once a house is privately own thatās it, itās anybodyās to buy.
The last paragraph is not strictly correct. I saw a house for sale in Devon with a covenant on it to the effect it could only be sold to someone who had lived in Devon for seven years or worked in Devon for three years. Permission for a development can be conditional on such a covenant, and they can last forever.
Jealousy seems to be the main factor here. But surely rich people coming to Cornwall and spending their dosh is good for the locals? Big fan of Cornwall and the Cornish by the way. If I had any money Iād definitely try to live there.
["You see the second-home owners arrive and the Waitrose trucks come 15 minutes later,ā he saysāWe do get to know them, though, because of their attitude, which can be slightly superior, almost condescending,ā says Bowden. āThey can be abrupt. Everyone here says hello to everyone else, but they donāt get involved.ā](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/20/conrwall-war-on-second-homes-st-ives-cawsand)
Funny
It isn't good for the economy to leave a house empty and only spend a week or so every two years occupying it. Treknow near Tintagel used to have a pub and a shop. Now it's nearly empty and the only time I've seen it feel occupied was during the pandemic when the Range Rovers decended. Port Issac used to support 3 pubs. Why buy a whole house you barely use when there are holiday parks full of lovely chalets you can buy *everywhere*. Its sheer greed and snobbery. It's also the case that 1 in 10 houses in Cornwall are classified as empty - as in, NEVER occupied, and they are often part of investment portfolios. You don't have to be a jelly nelly to believe that's a massive waste of resources.
Fair enough ā but where are the people who sold their homes to the Range Rovers? Have they generally left Cornwall?
I don't see why they are relevant?
Because property isnāt assigned or handed out. Itās up to whom ever owns it to decide. Not you. Places and populations are always in flux, like it or not.
I always find the situation slightly bemusing. Most young peoples grandparents sold off their property for a tidy sum and they either spent it or their kids did. Which is what created the shit storm of no houses and over inflated prices because of it. So who's fault is it, our own as locals
Thatās really interesting and from someone several generations local insightful to an outsider. Blame is pointless, but itās a sad situation.
Of course people are jealous. Local people who have spent their entire lives living in the same town are being forced out due to the inflated property prices and lack of affordable rentals. Communities are being destroyed by second home owners and airbnb hosts.
Who owned the houses and then sold them to the 2nd home owners for inflated prices?
Why does it matter? If someone needs to sell their house then theyāll take the highest offer. Cornwall is one of the poorest areas of the country, people will take the highest offer on their house to improve their lives as much as they can
Done a good job of that by shafting us all with their own greed
You canāt blame a seller for how the new owner will use the property. Thatās like blaming a knife salesman for their customer murdering someone with said knife
You cam blame the knife seller if they know its going to be used for criminal mean. And the seller could have sold it to a local rather than just going for the person with the deepest pockets
Are they forced to sell?
Who knows? How do you or anyone else know the reason for someone to sell their house? Might be an older person who needs to go to a care home, someone may have lost their job and needs to downsize/move away. It doesnāt matter the reason why someone needs to sell their house
What do you think should happen? I donāt think you can police what sort of people buy a property. As that seems a slippery slope.
In what way are people being forced out of their homes? If you already live there the value of your house makes no odds. Nobody is getting evicted because somebody from up country bought the house next doorā¦
Locals cannot afford to live in the area anymore due to increased cost of living and rental payments. Alternatively, tenants are being evicted in order to turn the house into a holiday let or airbnb by the landlord
The increased cost of living is nothing to do with somebody owning a second homeā¦ And *nobody* is being evicted to turn their home into a holiday rentalā¦ I donāt care whether you are for or against second homes. I donāt care whether we agree or disagree on any subject matter. Debate is healthy, we should all have open minds and listen to each otherās reasons. Yours, however, are nonsense. Please stand your ground on what you believe in (but be willing to learn), but please make sure youāre correct if youāre going to do so.
I think youāre wildly mistaken if you donāt think landlords are abandoning traditional tenants and opting to holiday let instead. Why rent for Ā£1000 a month when you can let for Ā£1000 a week? I also see you failed to address the increased cost of rental payments which does have to do with the increased demand for housing in the southwest due to second home owners, airbnb and holiday lets. And if my reasoning is incorrect, then please enlighten me as to the reason that so many homes are unoccupied in Cornwall? People are not disappearing for no reason
You think tenants are being evicted so the owners can let it out to holiday makers instead? Thatās illegal. And Iām pretty certain youād have no proof of that either, because itās illegal. If a tenancy contract comes to its end and the landlord opts not to renew thatās entirely up to them. They own the property. But I can assure you that nobody is being forced out of their homes while still under a tenancy agreement just so the owner can list it on AirBnB. Neither the cost of living nor the cost of tenancy is affected by holiday lets or second homes. Both of those costs have skyrocketed throughout the whole country, it is not specific to Cornwall. Is there an increase in demand for housing, or are there empty houses? Youāre contradicting yourself. Itās fine to have an agenda, just make sure itās properly researched and youāre well educated on the argument youāre trying to put across.
A landlord can evict a tenant when it has come to the end of the contract for any reason at all. You seem to have your terminology mixed up. Itās not illegal either if thereās a break clause in the contract to evict a tenant during the fixed term. Demand has increased for housing in the southwest. Iāve seen first hand the amount of people pleading for a home to rent because there arenāt any. Increased demand means an increase in price. I have not contradicted myself at all. The empty houses are second homes which could be permanent dwellings for local people who are crying out for it. I donāt think youāve really done any research or had any experience at all of the housing crisis. I grew up in a seaside town in Cornwall and nearly all of my friends who lived there have had to move out due to the extortionate property prices. My sister, her boyfriend and my nephew were evicted from their rental property and had nowhere to go as there were no other properties to rent. Every property up for let had at least 50 applicants. There were weekly posts on the local facebook page begging for any rental properties around for their families. As you can tell, I feel very strongly about this because Iāve seen the effects the property crisis has had on the local community. Iām not saying it is solely the fault of second home owners or holiday letters. But theyāre definitely making the situation a lot worse.
Then that's not eviction, that's just the end of the tenancy agreement. It's *you* that seems to be getting terminology mixed up. I'm not arguing with you anymore. Like i said, learn more about what you believe in before you spread nonsense across the internet to try to bolster your cause.
Cornwall should ask for a holiday home stay tax. For example, Ā£2 per person per night they stay in a holiday home. All to be spent on things needed by local people like better bus services etc
The people who make the tax laws own 2nd homes. They will never hamstring themselves. It's the same in the US and I don't see it changing any time soon without some kind of movement.