So, what are you spending the ten grand on?
House price crash
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SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Local estate agent has sent round one of those 'let us sell your house' brochures which I have been idly flicking though and, good heavens, I knew prices had gone mad round here (pretty, coastal Cornwall) with the second home brigade piling in but I had no idea how bad things are. Prime locations with panoramic water views up an average of 80% on 2019. The ones with no water views - up 95%
Nothing at all for long term rent in large parts of Cornwall. Not even in the handful of bigger inland towns, which suffer from terrible deprivation and which soon won't have teachers in the schools or nurses in the hospitals (such hospitals as there are) because there's nowhere for them to live.
At some point the rich need to be told no. Not taxed, or disincentivised, but physically kicked the fuck out.
AnnaKarpik
Queen of all she surveys
Absolutely, it just has to stop. I had a second-homer telling me they used to have a house somewhere on the Gower but they sold up because - wait for it - the place was dead most of the time because there was no resident population.
Plumdaff
joy in people
It's fucking devastating in rural parts of Wales - all the most expensive places here are coastal villages, and additionally, it's badly affecting the Welsh language in its heartlands when locals can't afford to stay where they grew up (not an anti English rant, a/ I'm English, and b/ it's equally shit when the villages are bought up by weekenders from Cardiff). I can't say I'm sorry that received wisdom seems to be that these are the houses that will see the biggest drops - can't shed many tears for someone throwing millions at a cottage on the Llyn peninsula they barely use.
bellaozzydog
rolling turds in glitter
Just NO
nogojones
spelling is overrated
The Welsh government are having a nibble at it, with potential increases of up to 300% on second homes
New tax rules for second homes | GOV.WALES
The Welsh Government has announced an increase to the maximum level of council tax premiums for second homes, as well as new local tax rules for holiday lets.
Yeah, this is good and it will definitely help on the margins. However:The Welsh government are having a nibble at it, with potential increases of up to 300% on second homes
New tax rules for second homes | GOV.WALES
The Welsh Government has announced an increase to the maximum level of council tax premiums for second homes, as well as new local tax rules for holiday lets.www.gov.wales
a) If memory serves, it doesn’t apply to houses let out as holiday homes for more than something like 20-ish weeks a year. So that still gives people a big loophole that doesn’t help the local population
b) If you’re rich enough, you just eat the cost as the price of having a second home
c) a lot of councils, if memory serves again, are only charging twice the council tax and not the full four times
So not a bad start, but it needs to go a lot further.
nogojones
spelling is overrated
Like I say, it's a nibble. Welsh Labour don't like to push the boat out too much
To be fair to them, at least they’re attempting something. Which is more than England is trying.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
The number of weeks it is let out is quite onerous - I don't know exactly what the figure is, but it's definitely around the six month mark - at least for the place to be available for let. It's causing some consternation amongst some owners, but I don't think that's a bad thing.
bimble
floofy
This is interesting - the big housebuilders saying they havent seen sales so low since the financial crisis times.
www.theguardian.com
Taylor Wimpey plans job cuts amid downturn in UK housing market
Building company aims to save £20m, but declines to say how many of its 5,000 workforce will be affected
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
They’re attempting things in South Hams too down in Devon but I’m not sure exactly what
AnnaKarpik
Queen of all she surveys
It's availability for 210 days and actually let for 105. The letting is at commercial rates, so freebies for the family or own use don't count. They can put someone in for up to 155 days in the winter.
It's not cheap to run a holiday let - laundry, trying to find cleaners, advertising and booking fees, rubbish collection, non-stop repairs and renovation, and for the sake of your sanity, a management agent. That bijou residence in a beautiful location can easily turn into a money pit if foreign holidays are cheap.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Oh, absolutely. There's a big difference down here between the dilettante holiday let owners - like the ones you describe - and those who are running them as a serious business operation. And it's the dilettantes who are doing most of the grumbling, not surprisingly.
bellaozzydog
rolling turds in glitter
Is that the aging retired population?
They’ll all be starting to fall off their perch’s soon and houses will be sold for inheritance
They’ll all be starting to fall off their perch’s soon and houses will be sold for inheritance
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Double council tax. A drop in the bucket but at least it's a few extra quid for local services.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
For my money, this is a pretty good way of making the punishment fit the crime.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
But you somehow don't have to pay business rates for a house that is let out the majority of the time, nor get planning permission for a change of use from residential to commercial.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
A punishment that fit the crime would be making them live in substandard, overpriced rental accomodation forever.
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
This article was an interesting read, nothing new really but a reminder of some of the challenges
Living in a shed
Living in a shed
From that article: "In some places in Wales, the Highlands, Cornwall and the Lake District, one in four properties are Airbnbs. When you add second homes to that statistic, there are villages like Elterwater in Cumbria where 80% of houses are unavailable to live in."
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
I agree that it’s a terrible thing and I want it to be stopped. I’m not sure how legislation would be framed however.
It can’t just be stopped using pricing for the reasons stated. So you are left with stopping ‘outsiders’ which gets dodgy in terms of potential racism.
Perhaps one way to do it would be to have to demonstrate that it wasn’t your second home. But that could be got around by having the first in the husband’s name and the second in the wife’s.
I’d be interested to hear if there are any workable solutions that have been suggested.
King Biscuit Time
Well-Known Member
The fact that the group is growing is surely just a function of the fact there are more oldies finishing off paying for their mortgage than young people getting new ones. When old people die I suspect some houses are sold (and therefore become a new mortgage) but many are either sat on or rented out by inheritees.
I think you have to do it through the mechanism of “no second homes”. Yes, there are technical loopholes, but how many couples have just one of them owning their house they live in? There are implications to that, which for most people would not be worth it. And it would still be their second home in any case unless they designate it as their primary residence, which would mean that all their banking etc would have to reflect that, and HMRC are very hot on people artificially flipping their primary address to avoid capital gains tax.
friendofdorothy
Solidarity against neoliberalism!
I think there needs to be tighter rules on Airbnb. It's turning homes into businesses and needs to regulated and taxed accordingly. Local authorities ought to have more say through planning system.
You could designate protected villages and then require houses there only be sold to people who can demonstrate they are a permanent resident.
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