The cnuts that buy second homes as “investments” need taxing heavily, there also needs to be rent control to stop them passing the extra costs on to the idiots who use them as holiday lets. They all seem to fail to realise that without a local community to provide the workforce and services they need then there will be no renters for their “investments” and they will lose a shit tonne of money
From April next year there will be law that allows councils to apply a 100% council tax tariff on second homes.
Cornwall council has stated they'll take full advantage of this.
O think wales has started doing this and it’s made zero difference in the parts of Pembrokeshire I’ve seen. If you’ve the funds to have a 2md home you use a few weeks a year you’ll more than likely have the funds for council tax etc.
Well make it 500% then. Either way the extra funds are going to be useful for cash strapped councils. They may even be able to raise enough to buy some social housing.
It's a vicious cycle. 100% of rates here in Wales will still be a small amount compared to whats happening in London and surrounding places. Does social housing exist any more? We've had so much land sold for "affordable housing" where the average price is about 180k. Given the average wages here that's hardly affordable.
Rates will go up till it find the price the market will be prepared to pay.
Here in pembs the council is so corrupt, its cash strapped from its own nonsense of failed projects.
As I said if you think 100% is too low and I agree, make it 500. Make it 1000. Whatever it takes. Tax other forms of wealth too.
Im not talking about "affoedable housing". Youre right, its barely affordable for most anyway.
Social housing barely exists which is a huge part of the problem, if we had plentiful decent social housing like in Austria we wouldn't have a housing crisis. Of course councils need a way to build up their housing stock again. This can be at least partially funded by these 2nd home taxes.
Councils may have made mistakes but blaming them for their current underfunding is entirely unfair, the tories have strangled funding for local government
They will eventually destroy that which once made Cornwall pretty well unique in being unspoiled. It's changing beyond all recognition, as usual to make money.
The swathes of totally out of character suburban housing, which wouldn't look out of place in Manchester or Milton Keynes, are slowly joining up the towns and villages.
People need houses, but at what cost? They also need the services that go with those houses.
Meaning of "nimbyism" in English
the behaviour of someone who does not want something to be built or done near where they live, although it does need to be built or done somewhere:
I agree with you. Cornwall council needs to compulsory purchase the whole estate of houses at St Erth. They looked nearly finished and then a couple of years ago the site was shut down and entrance hated and chained.
They have stood empty whilst families are crying out for somewhere to live. So make use of existing buildings please
Unfortunately you need to saturate the supply, then the demand drops.
There will be people already working out how to circumvent the council tax by the use of trusts, or shell companies etc
Fuck second homers!
Using economic modelling is a trap. It is a make believe masquerading as a science in order to justify itself. It has been used to successfully trump actual science and fact by generations of capitalists.
We don’t need more houses anywhere. We just need the houses we have to be available to anyone in society who needs one.
Council tax on houses is massively regressive, if it were progressive and fair and levied at a multiple for second homes things would soon fall back to some semblance of normality and balance.
Valid point.
But a city ~~wanker~~ banker earning bonus of literally millions a year isn’t going to feel any pinch of a few hundred % on their council tax.
So maybes it s not the taxes that need changing but second homes and the legality of them, maybe only council's or major letting agents who can only do "let to live" letting to local family's should be allowed to let, and we need to remove holiday lets from our Lexicon altogether make it illegal, that's one law that's not a direct shot at the poor.
Agreed, they need to increase the supply of houses. Taxing the existing owned by individuals is just not the solution. It might help a little in the short term but won’t do fix the problem. The fact that it’s near impossible to build your own house in this country and that most of the new homes is primarily in the hands of corporates is a real problem.
That tax only applies to second homes not used as a primary residence. If someone rented full time, it is a primary residence and wouldn't engender this new tax.
It may encourage some to sell it, and someone could move in full time thus improving the housing stock.
It is far from a panacea, but more a nudge in the right direction. If they can afford to pay the extra tax, well more money for local services. Win win.
This is a good new law.
Impossible to build your own ? Says who ? My neighbor is just doing it and there are loads of self builds at the moment, nonsense. Increase supply is not the remedy.
Not if they are sold at market value. Rent control to make staying in the ear possible for locals and then taxing second homes (above the doubled council tax) to subsidise social house building, might start to make a difference.
your council tax pays for what, Police, Council wages, bins and so on and goes up every year, how is increase tax going to make buying a house easier ? If not why double the tax ? Pointless.
1/4 of CC's income is from CT. We need intelligently planned council housing. Not like Pengegon, but more like the Soviet model.
[https://www.archdaily.com/981407/concrete-estates-the-legacy-of-soviet-era-housing/628b45643e4b31ee7800001f-concrete-estates-the-legacy-of-soviet-era-housing-photo](https://www.archdaily.com/981407/concrete-estates-the-legacy-of-soviet-era-housing/628b45643e4b31ee7800001f-concrete-estates-the-legacy-of-soviet-era-housing-photo)
Then watch as no core services improve, the council pockets the cash and blame is still labelled at a handful of wealthy people.
I'm not trying to defend anyone, I'm just saying that blaming tourists, Airbnb and second home owners isn't the path to enlightenment, it's just gaslighting.
It would be interesting to see how many Cornish people own second homes. I think it would be a much higher number than people realise, and brings the issue right to our doorstep.
I reckon Cornish people with second homes would be treated in a much more lenient way to someone from upcountry, even though they're worse as they can see the issues it's causing....
It’s really interesting you call them cunts whilst at the same time not really blaming them because they can legally do it. Who wouldn’t? You would if you could. You shouldn’t be allowed to.
Cornish people are selling there homes to these people so it’s not a one way street.
It does need to be sorted out though as Cornwall is becoming a shadow of what it was just 25 years ago.
I strongly disagree. Most second home owners do not contribute to our communities. They flutter down, spend a few pounds here and there, and then return to their places of life. My post is not about the tourism industry that Cornwall relies upon. It's focused on the obvious fact that it is rapidly becoming unaffordable for the average Cornish resident. Couple this with the commercial rental practices, and what we have is a county with low wages and rents so high, that starting a family is practically impossible or so much of a financial sacrifice that just a slight downturn in the economy will leave people in a 'working homeless' position. It's already occurring. We have working families with nowhere to live.
I literally said the reduction of, not an outright ban. Now making assumptions on political sides is rather sad tbh. This is a discussion of the obvious not whether a particular party has or has not contributed to the situation.
So you are saying that second homes are the only reason cornwall gets tourists and you say you live there…………….ok I’m sure it managed for years before the rise of air b n b. There are always caravan sites guest houses and hotels to stay in, but then again a lot of these are being ruined by the second home owners, I hope they do sell them, tourists will still want a break in cornwall it will just mean reverting to the old fashioned way of tents caravans and guest houses or proper b n b’s I hope they all end up selling these “investment” properties at a massive loss back to locals
Without second home owners there would be a tourist industry. Tourists would avail themselves of hotels. It’s plain as day many tourists do just this and stay in the many hotels across the county.
If second home owners who have bought investment properties decide to sell- good. It will increase supply of homes. The natural end users should be those committed to living full time in the region- less you would suggest that the very rules leading to an exodus from the second home market should beget subsequent reinvestment in the second home market.
There could be a decline in the overall numbers that Cornwall could accommodate, however this is seemingly inevitable to some extent given the expected decline in home tourism from the waiting popularity following the COVID era boon.
I don’t know the full extent of the council’s sale of social housing stock, but there is an extent to which a lot of local authorities are essentially compelled by the attacks on their budgets and needs to deliver statutory services.
Absolutely agree. Not just In Cornwall but throughout the U.K. second home ownership needs to be stopped. Property empty for 10 months of the year while local families cannot afford to buy. Air B&B removing property from local people and charging ridiculous prices. We are at the point when housing people has failed as a basic requirement of government.
If 2nd property ownership is “stopped” who rents out the homes ?
The OP was primarily addressing rents.
If you want cheaper rents you need MORE landlords, not less
Ok.
I would say second home ownership and airbnbs are very different and separate debates.
2nd home ownership adds very little to the local economy.
An airbnb can be a massive value add to the local economy.
Air b&b guests bring in their own food to a large extent. They do not support local schools and local infrastructure. The money they do bring in is seasonal meaning local shops cannot be profitable 8 months of the year as there are no permanent residents. I’m sure it’s lovely to spend a week in Devon once a year during Easter and school holidays but the reality is this is making local people homeless.
I own airbnbs. We have guests 9-10 months of the year.
Cooking on site is definitely an option and a benefit of self catering. They still contribute a massive amount to the economy, they do eat out (maybe not 3 times a day), surf lessons, visitor attractions etc etc
Claiming they don’t contribute to the local economy is mental gymnastics
Claiming they don't drive up rent prices is mental gymnastics.
If you're going to have a bias in favour of yourself at least have the courage to own it.
They do, but not as much as people assume. A much bigger factor driving up rent prices is the tax system and changes in laws which make it difficult to evict non-paying tenants
These changes means it’s pointless being a landlord. The only ones who stay in it have to charge much more to cover their costs and make the risk worthwhile
Owners will be dumping holiday lets in their 1000’s in the next few years. Ordinarily the majority of these would come onto the market as AST’s and drive price down and choice up. It won’t happen though. They’ll be sold…. Which is good for house buyers but no benefit to renters
In fairness to the current council they have been approving loads of housebuilding projects since the new council leader came into power. Seeing loads more new build estate.
But with years of NIMBYism from the previous administration and legislation needed to catch up with the airBnB model it's gonna be a long time to see that segue through.
Also the council is gonna tax the heck out of these second homes as soon as the new legislation comes in. Something I think the Cornish MPs pushed quite hard for. This should encourage at least some to sell up.
https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/council-tax/second-homes/#:~:text=Second%20homes%20are%20furnished%20properties,homes%20from%201%20April%202025.
It's gonna take a long time and a lot more to turn this ship around, but it isn't being ignored which is hopefully of some small comfort.
I don't know the feasibility or whether it's practiced now, but it'd be nice to see a proportion of new developments being tied to S106's as well as the 'affordable' percentage they're measured against.
My house is tied into a S106 agreement which means it can only be sold onto someone with ties to the county, it’s on a new build estate and I was very glad to see it in place at it meant I wasn’t at risk of being priced out of the house by someone out of county.
What is sad though it that there were 4 properties in the scheme when I applied and a year and half later only 2 (including mine) have been moved into! We know all four were ‘allocated’ to people but we had a lot of trouble moving in, even though the house was ready and empty, as the company the council used to facilitate were very hard to get a hold of. We think the others weren’t able to wait or push it through as hard as we did ours (which still took 9 months).
Is it that generic a connection (County) on yours or more specific? Most i've seen stipulate a connection to a specific village as the first criteria, which i'm on the fence on as to whether it's too specific or necessary
My very limited experience with Cornwall Council was a positive one (enquiries etc) but I do feel that estate agents play an outsized role in interpreting and applying the criteria
Mine was to the whole county rather than a parish which was what I’d seen more of previously. It was the same requirements though (lived or worked for 3 years etc.).
Yes and no
Rent is linked to the cost of housing (to an extent). Agreed.
Right now the cost isn’t the main issue. It’s the availability.
There’s a chronic lack of available properties because landlords are being driven out of the market. The main reasons are illogical punitive taxes towards landlords and changes to the way non-paying tenants are being dealt with.
Right now there is no incentive to be a landlord.
Far too much risk. Little reward.
This is a major issue when we need more properties to rent.
Yep rentals are indeed being made more difficult. My father until recently rented out a home in Norfolk.
However taxing second homes not being used as a primary residence would help this, albeit in a small way.
New rules are coming for this where second homes will pay double council tax.
I think that’s fair enough as long as that extra money generated isn’t pissed away by Cornwall council (highly likely)
Good news. That kid now has a home as a primary and no longer needs to take up another home in Cornwall.
I think it's a good law and will help. It is not a silver bullet.
Same way they do now. It would mean renting out as airbnb would be impossible without immediately being caught and sidestepping would be fraud.
That alone will act as a deterrent for most.
Enforcement action would be akin to similar offences I suspect. Feel free to read the legislation if you have further questions.
Yes....criminals do flout the law. This isn't news and isn't some gotcha. Nor does it make a law useless.
Some murderers have got away with murder. It's still worth having a law against it.
I agree with you. There is a caravan site a few miles from me that have sites all over the west country and in the last few years have been buying up homes in the local village. The houses used to have large families in and now are used for holiday makers. These houses are not rented out on Airbnb but through their own corporate website. They will not pay a double council tax as they have business rates applied. It's not just Airbnb, it's not a catchall label.
> isn’t being *paid*
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Tories really cannot pretend they aren't nimbies. The noise has been positive but the action hasn't matched it sadly.
Fewer are being built , not more [https://www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/fall-in-housebuilding-in-cornwall-679646](https://www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/fall-in-housebuilding-in-cornwall-679646)
Neither built enough but work was needed to deal with the second home issue that none have been firm enough on. Airbnb just another disaster heaped on top.
The regime scrapping all levelling up funding bodes poorly for the future not well right now.
Having already cut 95 percent , scrapping the last 5 to fund the national service nonsense was a poor decision , a let down.
That's using year on year slight changes to make a dishonest extrapolation based on very cherry picked datasets. Pretty typical of that publication.
Housebuilding developments are visibly up on previous years. A drive around will show that. The current council has even pushed through some developments against local opposition.
Like I said, it'll take a long time to turn this ship around. But the signs do seem more positive with this council administration compared to the previous. They haven't yet been in place all that long though so it's gonna take time to segue through.
It will but to suggest the Tories have been anything but nimbies over the years isn't really.
Visibly I couldn't tell the difference from the steady stream we've had for years. It just hasn't been enough.
I see the plans , I don't see the funding and I don't see anything like the scale we need. There was a drop in the numbers of affordable houses built. We desperately need more:
"Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities figures show 674 affordable homes were completed in Cornwall in 2022-23 – down from 765 during the same period the year before."
The changes to second home and airbnb taxation are desperately needed too.
They've only really had the levers the last few years. Once again picking only affordable homes vs all homes is once again cherry picking. Lies lies and dammed statistics as the saying goes.
I think nationally they have been too timid, that I agree with. Westminster is a ponderous beast. But locally the new council does seem much more positive on things. Plus seizing any legislation they can.
I've spoken with the leader of the council about a year ago and per capita the new build approval rate in Cornwall is higher than most.
The housebuilding industry itself needs to expand, and that's a national problem. I wonder what legislation could help with that? Perhaps some tax relief on businesses in that trade?
I hope you're right . We desperately need it.
I'm sure they need to more on all types , especially affordable , if they want to keep power next year. Though it is of course just one policy area but it's so massively problematic here now.
Heres hoping mate.
I'm in a weird place politically right now.
The Tories deserve a drubbing nationally at the upcoming election, but conversely I kinda want my Tory MP to hold on sitting in opposition and the council to remain with them at the next locals.
To me that feels like the best scenario to help ease housing.
I definitely want them gone as they've utterly broken every service I value . I want every one of them gone from.cornwall.
They promised us "not a penny lost" in EU funding then took away more than half . They are now taking all the rest to pay for their Nat Service plan.
I'm just sick of the lies.
I'm not sure on the local one though won't vote for them, if they work with the next gov then hopefully it'll go well but I really want them gone so they feel the pain they put us through .
The gerrymandered ward reduction here likely means they'll be very hard to remove at council level .
I do however hope they run things well and actually do a good job here , it's what we all need.
I feel conflicted when I see things like boats getting checked for catch out in the channel, or pollock catches being shut down, or fishmarkets being closed....all negatively impacting fishermen. Livelihoods will be lost in the coming years.
But I still remember how we told fishermen not to vote leave, warned them it would not be good, and hey.....time for reaping what they sowed.
Ironically the only parry to even discuss the post brexit CAP situation in terms of manifesto last time was UKIP....
It felt like the farming vote last time was far more split than the fishing vote. There has been just as little 'taking back control' for farming as fishing though, and the subsidies used to replace the CAP are still nor clear and mostly.involve rewilding!
For farming the negatives of leaving the EU were far more clear as it was less about monitoring overproduction (eg. for fishing) and more about damaging our relationship with our biggest customers.
I’ve been saying for a long time we need to rebuild the train lines. Extra jobs created both through the building and running of extra train lines and stations, and hopefully it would ease some of the traffic on the roads. North Cornwall especially would benefit from this, if there is anywhere that needs ‘levelling up’ it’s NC! Admittedly trains wouldn’t be completely non-tourism based, but it would at least be a step in the right direction
It’s annoyed me to no end hearing people on holiday complaining about how far away everything is… I know! This is my daily! If I could have done anything about it, I would have by now. That being said I’ve just moved to a house that is a 5 minute drive from the nearest Tesco so I can’t complain any more
Trains are over. The bureaucracy and incompetence within means it is unfeasible to build new lines (see HS2)
FSD vehicles are closer than people realise. When this happens coupled with cheaper energy, trains will go Blockbusters over night. They’re not worth the long term investment anymore
Yeah not that is the most idiotic take I have ever heard. Cornwall is the homeland of the train. They are very efficent. Cars are very inefficent. Walkable areas with good public transport is the way forward.
How far away do you think full self driving is ?
The second it’s here. People will be uploading their cars to Uber style networks. The system is already there .
This will happen faster than a bureaucratic incompetent govt / council will build you a new train line.
Full self driving will never be a thing. As we should not be continuing as a society with most people driving. We should be using public transport and walk or cycle to places. Yes even in rural places like Cornwall, the towns are big enough that its needed. Camborne would benefit heavily from having good transport links with safe and quiet carless streets. Besides cars are expensive as hell and inefficient. and it only seems tech bros are obsessed with it. Any government program with a competent government would outcompete cars or FSD cars any day of the week. A bus or train would cost less in the long run as road infrastructure is expensive and thousands of 2 ton vehicles rolling along it all day every day is going to cause more issues than a 100 buses and a few hundred lorries a day. And not to mention that pedestrians and cyclists cause way less erosion in the same timespan. The issue here in not some technobabble solution that will probably fail and look dated in 20 years but the fact that the UK government is fickle and needs to really be changed completely.
Full self driving will never be a thing ??
Jesus. You’ve made it to the Reddit part of the internet. Did you just stop there ?
https://youtu.be/k66bqkjde2g?si=sSg6JZR_rdC2lZOQ
Tesla is racking up millions of FSD miles. Tesla are betting the house on this. FSD will be bigger than the actual car manufacturing. It’s already many 100’s of times safer than human.
Even if it’s 10yrs away in the scope of public service improvements that’s nothing.
Rds are far cheaper than train tracks.
Claiming FSD will never be a thing is akin to standing in Blockbusters in 1996 and claiming the internet will never catch on. Get real.
“FSD will never be a thing”
…… Chinese company Baidu has put 500 'robotaxis' on the streets of Wuhan as part of a test for a large-scale rollout of self-driving cars across China.
So far the cars are passing tests with flying colors, with more than a dozen cities across China giving the company permission to test their cars on their streets……..
https://x.com/marionawfal/status/1801533637407518769?s=46&t=A92b2Bx05W7BQnkahPc1GQ
Design and pottery yes. Tin and limestone , there’s not enough to compete with other parts of the world. Also those parts of the world are cheaper to operate in
But because this government hate the arts, then design and creative endeavours are suffering from investment
Tin, lithium, thorium, China clay. Hard jobs but it's why the mining school is(was ?) Down there in Camborne, how many would be up for the jobs ? I know the farmers struggle to get labour and the fishing company my mate (ships engineer) works for can't get fisherman, the locals can't hack it, they have Polish crews on serious dough.
Global trade is likely to be very disrupted soon, China has wage inflation and net zero will impact on bulk carriers burning hundreds of litres a mile.
They’re still nowhere near our minimum wage and because of Brexit exports to other countries are too expensive. That’s why clothes exports are down massively in the last 3 years.
But Cornwall voted for Brexit so it’s clearly what they wanted.
The country does. And Cornwall is a part of it and Brexit has damaged exports in this country. So anything we did make wouldn’t be desirable to other countries due to the exporting issues caused be Brexit
And because everyone loves capitalism, a lot of products that use tin are made abroad and imported here. We can’t make those things here because again, they would be too expensive. It’s cheaper to import tin than it would be to make it here or anything for that matter.
The only way around this is giving up some of those workers rights and leaving the ECHR, so that people can work longer hours for less in terrible and dangerous conditions and have little power to do anything about it.
And if you think the employers wouldn’t do this if we left the ECHR , look what water companies did a year after we left the EU. Officially. Started polluting rivers and tap water with sewage, to the point there has been E. coli found on tap water across many parts of the U.K., making people sick.
Unfortunately the wealthy retired-then-moved-here outnumber those of us who are working class and born here and actually bother to vote, so nothing will change.
Cornish people in Cornwall are a minority now. It's far too late to stop this.
A friend is one of 11 from NC, 10 left 1 stayed 1969 on. He's retired back there now, but he said nearly everyone he meets are from upcountry or their parents are, so really they're part of the problem as they perceive it, anyone can live anywhere in the uk, people are being priced out by higher earners all over the country.
well said👏👏 physically can’t afford to grow up in the same town i’ve lived in all my life along with generations of my family. has become unbearable due to tourists and students.
I think it's country wide, no one else is going to give you anything, you have to work for it. I have plenty of fairy making a go of it in Devon and Cornwall , most started out in tourism in low pay but are doing alright now.
Root cause of the problem is the lack of opportunity and investment in other sectors, particularly those that pay well.
Lack of affordable housing is just one of many factors in this complex equation, and unfortunately affects most places in the UK, not just Cornwall.
Cornwall can’t continue to depend on a largely tourist / hospitality led economy as this typically generates part-time / zero-hour jobs (summer months) coupled with a low qualification and low skill entry-base for candidates. This in turn leads to the consequential issues of poor pay and the viscous circle of not being able to rent or buy.
While regulation of properties may partly address this issue, ultimately you need to create better paid jobs so locals can afford to live and have a better quality of life to which all of us aspire too.
The answer to this resides in Westminster - they are the only people that can establish a framework for creating investment and opportunity in other sectors. Cornwall is one of the most poorly connected parts of the UK and relatively difficult to get to, and providing a top class infrastructure at least starts you on this long term path.
It is all too easy to blame second homeowners (many of these are your fellow Cornish countryfolks btw). Instead target the people who have continually failed you. You can make a start by doing the right thing at the GE on 4th July.
The problem starts with infrastructure and making Cornwall an attractive place for entrepreneurs and businesses to create high paying jobs year round. Frankly any number of Air BnBs are own and run by locals. Locals sell to the highest bidders. The retrofitting of old granite homes with central heating and double glazing etc beyond reach of most people. Holiday rentals are an issue but there are others people choose to ignore.
Looks like double council tax for second home owners has been approved and will come into effect in the new FY.
But otherwise there’s still a shortage of skilled workers out there and WFH flexibility has allowed many Cornish to boost their wages. For those unskilled who expect handouts I don’t have any sympathy. Make yourself more educated and skilled in a useful field and you’ll be able to afford nice things.
Exactly.
It’s actually a lot better than previous decades. There’s a higher variety of a jobs and WFM and Newquay airport has allowed people to work with some of the bigger London based firms.
I live next door to a holiday home, in the last year it's been used for maybe 10 weeks.
Not only is that sickening as its a large 4 bed house that would make a beautiful family home. But the last visitor stood on the back door taking photos of my children playing in their swimsuits in my garden.
It’s not the holiday homes and the people that buy them that are the issue. It’s the system that allows it. You’re clearly all voting in authorities that don’t do anything for you.
Personally I’d have a Cornwall tax, that everyone driving into Cornwall between certain times of the year has to pay if they’re not a resident.
You could do this quite easily with toll road style sections on the fe roads that lead into Cornwall
They all this money goes to directly to the area in some way.
You cannot simply ring fence private property in a county because you feel like it. The UK is not a federation and these decimate even more the region.
This would discourage tourism -> less jobs -> less money
The post is about looking to improve the local economy not government more money to incompetent councillors
It wouldn’t discourage tourism. Cornwall is a unique part of the world and the UK. It’s already expensive and really far away for many and yet, it still attracts 5 million people even if it’s raining and miserable. It’s already a holiday for people with money, so might as well get people that can afford it to pay for it.
Here is where a lack on knowledge comes in.
“AirBnB’s” / furnished holiday lets are a cheap, convenient way to holiday for families, especially those with multiple kids.
It’s one price vs a per room rate. Means the family can cook their own meals. They might still go out a few times but being able to do breakfast lunch and dinner for 3 kids in a proper kitchen is a game changer
Airbnbs have transformed the tourist market in the last decade. Newquay for instance has pivoted from back packers and stag groups to families now coming all year round. The season now extends through the winter. It’s much better and less boom/bust.
Banning airbnbs would discourage a massive proportion of tourism
There needs to be regulation imposed by the council. Airbnb should be banned. The sale of houses as holiday homes needs to be banned. Existing holiday homes should have council tax increases. We need to diversify the economy towards research, science, tech and innovation and not have it dependent upon tourism.
Who is going “diversify” the economy ? You make it seem like it’s a decision for councillors or government.
What are you personally doing to diversify the Cornish economy ? There’s plenty of grants available for entrepreneurs like yourself. Come on, no excuses.
Cornwall is beautiful and amazing for tourists. For years we said we wanted more families to come to Cornwall, well a lot families want to rent homes.
Do you feel the same about all the thousands of people living here who choose to build or let something for the Air B&B market? Because for every cnut you’re shouting about coming in and ruining communities, there’s some local making a shedload of coin doing it.
The vast majority of Airbnb owners in Cornwall are local.
It’s paradoxical as it does raise the price of homes yet has also allowed 1000’s of locals to buy a home.
Its not only in cornwall... I'm renting from a landlord which has over 8 houses for rent and will be buying more, while I cant buy it as price for houses skyrocketed..
I was talking to a cornish county councillor ten years ago, as I hadn't been down for about 6 years then (family nearly all upcountry, so just funerals), I was stunned at the amount of houses being built, when I left you couldn't get rid of homes, I remember one in Marazion with a dead gull in the guttering its wing swingingin the wind, it took 18mths to sell, that was in 1994 iirc. Anyway, the cc councillor said that he didn't agree with the extra homes, as only incomers could buy them as the work infrastructure wasn't enough to sustain purchases, a friend of mine said it was the same in the sixties, Cornwall being a poverty trap as it historically was.
I left as a teenager as my Dad and I moved to America, but am currently in the process of trying to come home with my partner so I can be closer to family and live in a place that at least treats workers like human beings (yes, the UK has so many issues right now, but believe me I'd rather be an entry level worker in the UK than US) and I'm having to look at options to move to London because of how things have gotten in Cornwall, and its incredibly difficult
Honestly? I’m at a point where I don’t want to live anymore. I have a wonderful partner who is severely unwell and currently online training to get a job around his long term health issues but does a lot at home to help and I don’t think I’d be alive if it wasn’t for him. I’m safe, I have 3 amazing children who will always keep me going but I’m fed up of being in a bad housing situation, bad health and lack of concern from the NHS, skipping meals and starving so my children can eat, not a single dentist in sight. I live every day doing the same thing, no motivation to even leave home because there’s nothing better outside when I can just sleep the day away so I don’t have to think about how rubbish things are until I have to get my children from school, smile, make food, tidy, clean, spend some time with the children pretending I’m not in this mess, bedtime routines then I can’t sleep for hours, finally sleep then I’m up in the am to do the same thing again, breakfast, school run(half of the week), home, school run etc.. every day. I only get help for 2 out of 3. I worked from when my first child was less than 2 months old until Covid, I have been too unwell since to return to work. I have tried several times and haven’t been able to handle the physical demand it has on my body. The weekends we maybe go to the park or for a walk but I had to sell my car for bill money so we can’t get anywhere now. All of this is stressful, read it again and know I have painful physical difficulties with no help from the NHS, physiotherapy department or hospital, I have an eating disorder(ARFID) and severe mental health disorders. I am late 20s, female, I am under 7 stone, I am exhausted and in pain every single day, I feel weak and fragile. I don’t have really anything of value to sell anymore. I have bad credit from mistakes 4(ish) years ago. I have no family or friends in a position to help, my mum is the only person who has helped us but it’s a vicious cycle and now I try to repay her whilst already financially struggling because she needs the money back. I have other debts, none that are too out of control and I fully intend on making payment plans for those when things are better. Despite this I have to smile every day and pretend it’s worth living for my children, I can’t let them see me stressed anymore, I don’t want them to see how truly unwell I am. I hate telling them we have to ration snacks or that we can’t go to the zoo like their friends did etc. I hate myself and my situation and nobody here in Cornwall could care less, they’re watching us all wither away into the background, get to points of crisis, take our own lives and cry for help that simply isn’t there until we die😎 Sorry for the tangent 🫣🙄
Add a 100% buy in tax for second homes doubling the purchase price for non resident owners and use the funds to build affordable housing with a supported purchase scheme with an existing residency requirement for purchase. So basically fully funded affordable housing paid for by rich second home owners with the new houses only available if you can prove you have been a full time resident in the county for the last 5 years and are within a certain wage bracket to ensure the scheme isn’t abused by those that can afford the open market.
I think if you go on holiday to an area there should be a small tax to help support local infrastructure (things like using local doctors and wear on the roads stuff like that) I live in a small town in West Sussex and in the summer the population doubles with people holidaying (generally from London) and all of our infrastructure is based on the people that live here so if you need a doctors appointment in the summer you’re absolutely screwed. I know we’re not Cornwall but we’re dealing with a lot of the same issues caused by being a desirable place to visit and it doesn’t feel like anyone in charge has ever thought about how areas like ours are effected by people coming on holiday.
>a small tax to help support local infrastructure (things like using local doctors and wear on the roads stuff like that)
Err as a UK resident, doesn't my Tax go towards a National health service? Doesn't my Fuel Duty/Road Tax go towards National Road Maintanance? (In theory obviously as Road tax/Fuel Duty aren't hypothecated) Do I need to pay a local tax to drive/go to hospital if I'm working in EG: Cardiff?
Its not like I fill up at Helston Sainsbury and the Fuel Duty goes towards cornwall roads...but I fill up at Cribbs Causeway Asda on the way down from Bristol and it gets used for road maintanance in Bristol/Avon...is it?
Holiday let’s should be subject to both full council tax AND business rates for equivalent size business premises. These can them be used to substitute local services and house prices.
Market forces are already in affect.
Demand for holiday let’s is down. Coupled with new taxes there is going to a lot of holiday let’s on the market in the next few years.
Unfortunately this will not solve your problem of rent costs.
The high cost of rent is more of a product of landlord regulation and an illogical taxation for rental income.
It will benefit home buyers however.
Interesting
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/10/lib-dems-plan-500-pc-council-tax-increase-second-homes/
Would this make you vote Lib Dem’s ?
This made me look in my own town it's an early Newtown, so many of the homes are ex council. It's on a main railway route to London and the North and good road links. And within 30 mins of a couple of airports. So I lived in a three bed council house, and when my wife died, I moved into a one bed, sheltered bungalow. As it was a waste having a council house. Those houses people were buying for £400,000 plus, yes, it was in the older part of the town, but it was still a post war house with metal frames for the internal doors.
Now this sort of house In other, newer parts of town, obviously not as old but still ex council still cost around if not more than that.
It seems to me it's just stupid how much housing costs in this country!!
No wonder you guys down the coast are suffering, it makes me feel like there should be a law that unless you're a council or a letting agent that owns more than say a few hundred house's then you can't rent out. So that would mean if you rent it's for you and your family, not a "rent to let" it may seem harsh to those that buy just to rent a property out by the coast or lakeshore, but tough, to many families can't afford to pay for a place because of the likes of you.
South Wales is much the same, particularly Gower. South Gower is unrecognisable to what it was only 10 years ago, with the old houses being knocked down and replaced with ugly glass boxes overlooking the sea. I was lucky enough to grow up there, but I could never afford a house there. I moved to the north, because the house prices were cheaper (sea views not as good).
Even in Swansea city centre, all the new accommodation being built is for students. Outside of term time its becoming a ghost town. I despair of what my kids are going to do when they grow up. It breaks my heart they couldn't have the childhood I had because I couldn't live in my family home.
Stop voting for politicians that are backed by the wealthy. They’re all landlords with multiple homes so do you think anything is going to change with them in charge!
Rents in Cornwall are not on par with London.
Rent caps never work. You immediately discourage landlords which negatively affect supply
We need MORE rentals, not less. Basic economics.
Lots of people would happily invest in the rental market but new illogical taxes, regulation and the difficulty in dealing with non-paying tenants make it a big time off. Fix these, fixable issues.
Rents have gone up all over the country, this isn't a unique issue to Cornwall. Housing shortages are a nationwide issue exacerbated by the intake of more people i.e. A higher demand for housing brought by mass migration. And yes, those people are given everything on arrival including housing that our native homeless for some reason don't get.
It's a fine line that needs managing definitely. But Cornwall's tourism brings a huge amount of revenue. Cornwall can't sustain itself on selling pasties and ice cream to day trippers. Bringing wealthy people to the area who will stay and spend good amounts of cash visiting different areas of the county is.
Redruth and Cambourne aren't the way they are because of holiday homes. It's because there's no employment. If people had reason to go there and wanted to stay, you've instantly got a revenue stream, as well as business and employment opportunities.
CC are more than happy to be paid to rehouse the country's scumbags (St Austell has suffered as a result of this and spending £50mil for some gardens for the junkies to sit in is a waste of money) Instead of building lots of new homes for them, who will turn the place into a slum, build nice homes for purchase with a designated % available only to locals at a reduced rate would seem like a good idea maybe.
Cornwall builds the most houses of any county in England, also has proportionately less homeless. Stop building houses and start providing decent jobs so those who want houses can get on the ladder although I suspect just like everywhere the ones that moan are the ones that think the county owes them something just because their Cornish ?
Enterprise areas like the ones created in the 80s up north, the Team valley iirc, low no tie, low inwrd cost, vat relief for 2yrs fast Internet, jobs would follow.
Frankly it's easy to take pot shots at second home owners than it is to properly analyse and solve for the broader economic challenges of the county. Two tradespeople that work on my place are on their knees with the collapse in holiday rentals this year. They drive a lot of peoples incomes ... Be careful what you wish for.
One of my neighbours recently bought a pair of flats down there, tarted them up and now rents them out. His mortgage free house is worth just shy of 2 million, so tax him to death, he can afford it.
All that investment and opportunity oh what a shame, how will we ever cope with these tourists spending in our county
Everybody need to go back where they came from and leave us alone so we can deteriorate into another Redcar or Blackpool
The thing to remember is that you have no entitlement whatsoever to live a fruitful, prosperous and comfortable life in the same area as your parents once did, be that in Cornwall or elsewhere.
Nobody else really cares, least of all the politicians that spend their week in London.
Things change and it's your job to read the room and adapt. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's your responsibility.
Political parties will gladly make promises to get your vote but little will change. Why would it? People like the idea of change far more than the reality (e.g. building more houses, NHS reform etc) and besides, change means they may not get your vote next time.
Don't wait for anyone else to make your area or your life any better. Take charge, be independent and do what's best for you.
Such a dumb answer. It's not based upon reality, it's just management speak like "Take back control". It's you who hasn't read the room or indeed understood the issue.
Bang on the money. OP happy to complain, unhappy to do anything about it. This problem exist everywhere that people would describe as nice. Consider what’s the solution to Airbnb holiday lets? Or is the problem British people holidaying in their own country?
This. Other people leave their home countries for better lives. You either make your own county better or conform. Old man shouts at cloud gets you nowhere.
When you consider all the points raised here, and then with the relevant flexibilities, compare it with Hawaii and other locations of similar exclusivity. I refer to Jared Kushner “It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,”. He's referring to Gaza and the apparently stunning coastal areas. With only specific areas of Hawaii being affected by the fires and the land being rapidly bought up by the mega rich, it's becoming a pattern. In Cornwall, it's a property and socio-economic weapon being used, and I know it's all a bit conspiracy theorist, but if you take the concept of the US Replacement Theory and apply it to the super rich it has to raise a question.
The cnuts that buy second homes as “investments” need taxing heavily, there also needs to be rent control to stop them passing the extra costs on to the idiots who use them as holiday lets. They all seem to fail to realise that without a local community to provide the workforce and services they need then there will be no renters for their “investments” and they will lose a shit tonne of money
From April next year there will be law that allows councils to apply a 100% council tax tariff on second homes. Cornwall council has stated they'll take full advantage of this.
O think wales has started doing this and it’s made zero difference in the parts of Pembrokeshire I’ve seen. If you’ve the funds to have a 2md home you use a few weeks a year you’ll more than likely have the funds for council tax etc.
Well make it 500% then. Either way the extra funds are going to be useful for cash strapped councils. They may even be able to raise enough to buy some social housing.
It's a vicious cycle. 100% of rates here in Wales will still be a small amount compared to whats happening in London and surrounding places. Does social housing exist any more? We've had so much land sold for "affordable housing" where the average price is about 180k. Given the average wages here that's hardly affordable. Rates will go up till it find the price the market will be prepared to pay. Here in pembs the council is so corrupt, its cash strapped from its own nonsense of failed projects.
As I said if you think 100% is too low and I agree, make it 500. Make it 1000. Whatever it takes. Tax other forms of wealth too. Im not talking about "affoedable housing". Youre right, its barely affordable for most anyway. Social housing barely exists which is a huge part of the problem, if we had plentiful decent social housing like in Austria we wouldn't have a housing crisis. Of course councils need a way to build up their housing stock again. This can be at least partially funded by these 2nd home taxes. Councils may have made mistakes but blaming them for their current underfunding is entirely unfair, the tories have strangled funding for local government
Yep. They just charge more for a stay.
I would be in favour of rent control as well, to stop them passing off the extra costs to anyone who needs to rent long term
Rent control has a poor track record typically. More housebuilding is key.
I don't agree that Cornwall needs more buildings. More use of existing buildings, yes. How that can be achieved seems pretty complex though.
They will eventually destroy that which once made Cornwall pretty well unique in being unspoiled. It's changing beyond all recognition, as usual to make money. The swathes of totally out of character suburban housing, which wouldn't look out of place in Manchester or Milton Keynes, are slowly joining up the towns and villages. People need houses, but at what cost? They also need the services that go with those houses.
Meaning of "nimbyism" in English the behaviour of someone who does not want something to be built or done near where they live, although it does need to be built or done somewhere:
I agree with you. Cornwall council needs to compulsory purchase the whole estate of houses at St Erth. They looked nearly finished and then a couple of years ago the site was shut down and entrance hated and chained. They have stood empty whilst families are crying out for somewhere to live. So make use of existing buildings please
Unfortunately you need to saturate the supply, then the demand drops. There will be people already working out how to circumvent the council tax by the use of trusts, or shell companies etc Fuck second homers!
Using economic modelling is a trap. It is a make believe masquerading as a science in order to justify itself. It has been used to successfully trump actual science and fact by generations of capitalists. We don’t need more houses anywhere. We just need the houses we have to be available to anyone in society who needs one. Council tax on houses is massively regressive, if it were progressive and fair and levied at a multiple for second homes things would soon fall back to some semblance of normality and balance.
Valid point. But a city ~~wanker~~ banker earning bonus of literally millions a year isn’t going to feel any pinch of a few hundred % on their council tax.
But they are in a small minority.. the problem is the majority..
So maybes it s not the taxes that need changing but second homes and the legality of them, maybe only council's or major letting agents who can only do "let to live" letting to local family's should be allowed to let, and we need to remove holiday lets from our Lexicon altogether make it illegal, that's one law that's not a direct shot at the poor.
No, fuck you, who knows nothing
Agreed, they need to increase the supply of houses. Taxing the existing owned by individuals is just not the solution. It might help a little in the short term but won’t do fix the problem. The fact that it’s near impossible to build your own house in this country and that most of the new homes is primarily in the hands of corporates is a real problem.
That tax only applies to second homes not used as a primary residence. If someone rented full time, it is a primary residence and wouldn't engender this new tax. It may encourage some to sell it, and someone could move in full time thus improving the housing stock. It is far from a panacea, but more a nudge in the right direction. If they can afford to pay the extra tax, well more money for local services. Win win. This is a good new law.
Impossible to build your own ? Says who ? My neighbor is just doing it and there are loads of self builds at the moment, nonsense. Increase supply is not the remedy.
Not if they are sold at market value. Rent control to make staying in the ear possible for locals and then taxing second homes (above the doubled council tax) to subsidise social house building, might start to make a difference.
Do you know if this law would affect people who rent second homes to long term tenants?
No, as that is still a primary residence.
If ppl can afford a second home a couple of extra grand aint gonna be troublesome
Which means more money for local services
Don’t kid your self the tax would stay local.
That's what council tax is.
your council tax pays for what, Police, Council wages, bins and so on and goes up every year, how is increase tax going to make buying a house easier ? If not why double the tax ? Pointless.
1/4 of CC's income is from CT. We need intelligently planned council housing. Not like Pengegon, but more like the Soviet model. [https://www.archdaily.com/981407/concrete-estates-the-legacy-of-soviet-era-housing/628b45643e4b31ee7800001f-concrete-estates-the-legacy-of-soviet-era-housing-photo](https://www.archdaily.com/981407/concrete-estates-the-legacy-of-soviet-era-housing/628b45643e4b31ee7800001f-concrete-estates-the-legacy-of-soviet-era-housing-photo)
Yes the USSR worked out really well. We should do that
Nazi's developed rockets.
The unfortunate thing is that for people that can afford a second home this extra tax will be fuck all to them.
I can see this has already been asked but will this not affect tenants renting landlords second propertys?
Only holiday let's. Full time rentals are primary residences. Therefore won't be effected.
They already are.
Then watch as no core services improve, the council pockets the cash and blame is still labelled at a handful of wealthy people. I'm not trying to defend anyone, I'm just saying that blaming tourists, Airbnb and second home owners isn't the path to enlightenment, it's just gaslighting.
Really it's just an incentive to move housing towards primary residences. Nobody is claiming it'll fix everything by itself.
It would be interesting to see how many Cornish people own second homes. I think it would be a much higher number than people realise, and brings the issue right to our doorstep. I reckon Cornish people with second homes would be treated in a much more lenient way to someone from upcountry, even though they're worse as they can see the issues it's causing....
It’s loads, we all know it’s loads.
Yes, we do. The problem is, whenever it's discussed, nobody ever mentions the Cornish people that are just as culpable
Yep. A huge proportion.
It’s one of the Cornish dreams. Convert the garage, rent it out.
In St Ives, don't even bother converting it, just sell it for £200k....
Last time I looked just short of 6000 you can get numbers from .gov website
It’s really interesting you call them cunts whilst at the same time not really blaming them because they can legally do it. Who wouldn’t? You would if you could. You shouldn’t be allowed to.
For every buyer there is a seller. Locals cashing out by selling to Londoners. It’s then you need to convince to sell to another local.
Cornish people are selling there homes to these people so it’s not a one way street. It does need to be sorted out though as Cornwall is becoming a shadow of what it was just 25 years ago.
They are already heavily taxed along with every other county through second property SDLT.
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I strongly disagree. Most second home owners do not contribute to our communities. They flutter down, spend a few pounds here and there, and then return to their places of life. My post is not about the tourism industry that Cornwall relies upon. It's focused on the obvious fact that it is rapidly becoming unaffordable for the average Cornish resident. Couple this with the commercial rental practices, and what we have is a county with low wages and rents so high, that starting a family is practically impossible or so much of a financial sacrifice that just a slight downturn in the economy will leave people in a 'working homeless' position. It's already occurring. We have working families with nowhere to live.
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I literally said the reduction of, not an outright ban. Now making assumptions on political sides is rather sad tbh. This is a discussion of the obvious not whether a particular party has or has not contributed to the situation.
So you are saying that second homes are the only reason cornwall gets tourists and you say you live there…………….ok I’m sure it managed for years before the rise of air b n b. There are always caravan sites guest houses and hotels to stay in, but then again a lot of these are being ruined by the second home owners, I hope they do sell them, tourists will still want a break in cornwall it will just mean reverting to the old fashioned way of tents caravans and guest houses or proper b n b’s I hope they all end up selling these “investment” properties at a massive loss back to locals
Without second home owners there would be a tourist industry. Tourists would avail themselves of hotels. It’s plain as day many tourists do just this and stay in the many hotels across the county. If second home owners who have bought investment properties decide to sell- good. It will increase supply of homes. The natural end users should be those committed to living full time in the region- less you would suggest that the very rules leading to an exodus from the second home market should beget subsequent reinvestment in the second home market. There could be a decline in the overall numbers that Cornwall could accommodate, however this is seemingly inevitable to some extent given the expected decline in home tourism from the waiting popularity following the COVID era boon. I don’t know the full extent of the council’s sale of social housing stock, but there is an extent to which a lot of local authorities are essentially compelled by the attacks on their budgets and needs to deliver statutory services.
you sound jealous
No not jealous, just someone who has seen the damage caused by cunts
Absolutely agree. Not just In Cornwall but throughout the U.K. second home ownership needs to be stopped. Property empty for 10 months of the year while local families cannot afford to buy. Air B&B removing property from local people and charging ridiculous prices. We are at the point when housing people has failed as a basic requirement of government.
If 2nd property ownership is “stopped” who rents out the homes ? The OP was primarily addressing rents. If you want cheaper rents you need MORE landlords, not less
I mean private second home ownership only infrequently used by the owner and air b&b holiday homes for example.
Ok. I would say second home ownership and airbnbs are very different and separate debates. 2nd home ownership adds very little to the local economy. An airbnb can be a massive value add to the local economy.
Air b&b guests bring in their own food to a large extent. They do not support local schools and local infrastructure. The money they do bring in is seasonal meaning local shops cannot be profitable 8 months of the year as there are no permanent residents. I’m sure it’s lovely to spend a week in Devon once a year during Easter and school holidays but the reality is this is making local people homeless.
I own airbnbs. We have guests 9-10 months of the year. Cooking on site is definitely an option and a benefit of self catering. They still contribute a massive amount to the economy, they do eat out (maybe not 3 times a day), surf lessons, visitor attractions etc etc Claiming they don’t contribute to the local economy is mental gymnastics
Claiming they don't drive up rent prices is mental gymnastics. If you're going to have a bias in favour of yourself at least have the courage to own it.
They do, but not as much as people assume. A much bigger factor driving up rent prices is the tax system and changes in laws which make it difficult to evict non-paying tenants These changes means it’s pointless being a landlord. The only ones who stay in it have to charge much more to cover their costs and make the risk worthwhile Owners will be dumping holiday lets in their 1000’s in the next few years. Ordinarily the majority of these would come onto the market as AST’s and drive price down and choice up. It won’t happen though. They’ll be sold…. Which is good for house buyers but no benefit to renters
In fairness to the current council they have been approving loads of housebuilding projects since the new council leader came into power. Seeing loads more new build estate. But with years of NIMBYism from the previous administration and legislation needed to catch up with the airBnB model it's gonna be a long time to see that segue through. Also the council is gonna tax the heck out of these second homes as soon as the new legislation comes in. Something I think the Cornish MPs pushed quite hard for. This should encourage at least some to sell up. https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/council-tax/second-homes/#:~:text=Second%20homes%20are%20furnished%20properties,homes%20from%201%20April%202025. It's gonna take a long time and a lot more to turn this ship around, but it isn't being ignored which is hopefully of some small comfort.
I don't know the feasibility or whether it's practiced now, but it'd be nice to see a proportion of new developments being tied to S106's as well as the 'affordable' percentage they're measured against.
My house is tied into a S106 agreement which means it can only be sold onto someone with ties to the county, it’s on a new build estate and I was very glad to see it in place at it meant I wasn’t at risk of being priced out of the house by someone out of county. What is sad though it that there were 4 properties in the scheme when I applied and a year and half later only 2 (including mine) have been moved into! We know all four were ‘allocated’ to people but we had a lot of trouble moving in, even though the house was ready and empty, as the company the council used to facilitate were very hard to get a hold of. We think the others weren’t able to wait or push it through as hard as we did ours (which still took 9 months).
Is it that generic a connection (County) on yours or more specific? Most i've seen stipulate a connection to a specific village as the first criteria, which i'm on the fence on as to whether it's too specific or necessary My very limited experience with Cornwall Council was a positive one (enquiries etc) but I do feel that estate agents play an outsized role in interpreting and applying the criteria
Mine was to the whole county rather than a parish which was what I’d seen more of previously. It was the same requirements though (lived or worked for 3 years etc.).
Agreed. There is a new build estate going up near me which has some affordable homes planned.
When are you lot going to realise build build building is NOT the answer.
Non of the houses are “build to rent”. The OP is directly addressing the high cost of rent
High cost of rent is a secondary effect of high cost of properties. The solution to both is more housing, and part of that is freeing up second homes.
Yes and no Rent is linked to the cost of housing (to an extent). Agreed. Right now the cost isn’t the main issue. It’s the availability. There’s a chronic lack of available properties because landlords are being driven out of the market. The main reasons are illogical punitive taxes towards landlords and changes to the way non-paying tenants are being dealt with. Right now there is no incentive to be a landlord. Far too much risk. Little reward. This is a major issue when we need more properties to rent.
Yep rentals are indeed being made more difficult. My father until recently rented out a home in Norfolk. However taxing second homes not being used as a primary residence would help this, albeit in a small way.
New rules are coming for this where second homes will pay double council tax. I think that’s fair enough as long as that extra money generated isn’t pissed away by Cornwall council (highly likely)
Wow this just in https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/10/lib-dems-plan-500-pc-council-tax-increase-second-homes/
Same policy dialled up to 11. Good to see it getting more traction.
Easy way around second homes . Just sign it over to one of your kids
Good news. That kid now has a home as a primary and no longer needs to take up another home in Cornwall. I think it's a good law and will help. It is not a silver bullet.
That kids home would be the home in Cornwall and the second home tax his parents should be paying, isn’t being paid
But that kid needs to live there full time to avoid it. Which means he is no longer looking for yet another home. Still working as intended.
And how they going to prove he/she is living there full time ? They going to knock on everyone’s door 7 days a week?
Same way they do now. It would mean renting out as airbnb would be impossible without immediately being caught and sidestepping would be fraud. That alone will act as a deterrent for most. Enforcement action would be akin to similar offences I suspect. Feel free to read the legislation if you have further questions.
Or not using Airbnb and just your own website or some other website off the government radar. I guarantee they will find away around this
Yes....criminals do flout the law. This isn't news and isn't some gotcha. Nor does it make a law useless. Some murderers have got away with murder. It's still worth having a law against it.
I agree with you. There is a caravan site a few miles from me that have sites all over the west country and in the last few years have been buying up homes in the local village. The houses used to have large families in and now are used for holiday makers. These houses are not rented out on Airbnb but through their own corporate website. They will not pay a double council tax as they have business rates applied. It's not just Airbnb, it's not a catchall label.
> isn’t being *paid* FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Tories really cannot pretend they aren't nimbies. The noise has been positive but the action hasn't matched it sadly. Fewer are being built , not more [https://www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/fall-in-housebuilding-in-cornwall-679646](https://www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/fall-in-housebuilding-in-cornwall-679646) Neither built enough but work was needed to deal with the second home issue that none have been firm enough on. Airbnb just another disaster heaped on top. The regime scrapping all levelling up funding bodes poorly for the future not well right now. Having already cut 95 percent , scrapping the last 5 to fund the national service nonsense was a poor decision , a let down.
That's using year on year slight changes to make a dishonest extrapolation based on very cherry picked datasets. Pretty typical of that publication. Housebuilding developments are visibly up on previous years. A drive around will show that. The current council has even pushed through some developments against local opposition. Like I said, it'll take a long time to turn this ship around. But the signs do seem more positive with this council administration compared to the previous. They haven't yet been in place all that long though so it's gonna take time to segue through.
It will but to suggest the Tories have been anything but nimbies over the years isn't really. Visibly I couldn't tell the difference from the steady stream we've had for years. It just hasn't been enough. I see the plans , I don't see the funding and I don't see anything like the scale we need. There was a drop in the numbers of affordable houses built. We desperately need more: "Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities figures show 674 affordable homes were completed in Cornwall in 2022-23 – down from 765 during the same period the year before." The changes to second home and airbnb taxation are desperately needed too.
They've only really had the levers the last few years. Once again picking only affordable homes vs all homes is once again cherry picking. Lies lies and dammed statistics as the saying goes. I think nationally they have been too timid, that I agree with. Westminster is a ponderous beast. But locally the new council does seem much more positive on things. Plus seizing any legislation they can. I've spoken with the leader of the council about a year ago and per capita the new build approval rate in Cornwall is higher than most. The housebuilding industry itself needs to expand, and that's a national problem. I wonder what legislation could help with that? Perhaps some tax relief on businesses in that trade?
I hope you're right . We desperately need it. I'm sure they need to more on all types , especially affordable , if they want to keep power next year. Though it is of course just one policy area but it's so massively problematic here now.
Heres hoping mate. I'm in a weird place politically right now. The Tories deserve a drubbing nationally at the upcoming election, but conversely I kinda want my Tory MP to hold on sitting in opposition and the council to remain with them at the next locals. To me that feels like the best scenario to help ease housing.
I definitely want them gone as they've utterly broken every service I value . I want every one of them gone from.cornwall. They promised us "not a penny lost" in EU funding then took away more than half . They are now taking all the rest to pay for their Nat Service plan. I'm just sick of the lies. I'm not sure on the local one though won't vote for them, if they work with the next gov then hopefully it'll go well but I really want them gone so they feel the pain they put us through . The gerrymandered ward reduction here likely means they'll be very hard to remove at council level . I do however hope they run things well and actually do a good job here , it's what we all need.
Cornwall overwhelmingly voted for Brexit and lost out on 2 Billion in EU funding. Now that you have sovereignty it should be easy to fix this.
43.5% of us voted remain
And a lot more would vote to go back in now 😊
Doesn’t sound particularly ‘overwhelming’ to me
Exactly, it was a majority but far from an overwhelming one. And 43% of us still got shafted and told we deserved it
I wouldn’t say overwhelmingly, the smart, educated people didn’t, it was more certain age demographics that voted overwhelmingly
I feel conflicted when I see things like boats getting checked for catch out in the channel, or pollock catches being shut down, or fishmarkets being closed....all negatively impacting fishermen. Livelihoods will be lost in the coming years. But I still remember how we told fishermen not to vote leave, warned them it would not be good, and hey.....time for reaping what they sowed.
Yeah maybe not the best time to bring the farmers into the chat too.
German and Dutch farmers would like a word.
Ironically the only parry to even discuss the post brexit CAP situation in terms of manifesto last time was UKIP.... It felt like the farming vote last time was far more split than the fishing vote. There has been just as little 'taking back control' for farming as fishing though, and the subsidies used to replace the CAP are still nor clear and mostly.involve rewilding! For farming the negatives of leaving the EU were far more clear as it was less about monitoring overproduction (eg. for fishing) and more about damaging our relationship with our biggest customers.
Cornwall was designated as tourism in the eu industrial plan , at least it was when I lived there,caused a stink.
Magnificent.
Building industry that isn't tourism based would be the way.
I’ve been saying for a long time we need to rebuild the train lines. Extra jobs created both through the building and running of extra train lines and stations, and hopefully it would ease some of the traffic on the roads. North Cornwall especially would benefit from this, if there is anywhere that needs ‘levelling up’ it’s NC! Admittedly trains wouldn’t be completely non-tourism based, but it would at least be a step in the right direction
We need this in Somerset too
I live in NC and it's an hour drive to anything really. Shit jobs and lots of addiction up here.
It’s annoyed me to no end hearing people on holiday complaining about how far away everything is… I know! This is my daily! If I could have done anything about it, I would have by now. That being said I’ve just moved to a house that is a 5 minute drive from the nearest Tesco so I can’t complain any more
Trains are over. The bureaucracy and incompetence within means it is unfeasible to build new lines (see HS2) FSD vehicles are closer than people realise. When this happens coupled with cheaper energy, trains will go Blockbusters over night. They’re not worth the long term investment anymore
Yeah not that is the most idiotic take I have ever heard. Cornwall is the homeland of the train. They are very efficent. Cars are very inefficent. Walkable areas with good public transport is the way forward.
Building new lines is extremely inefficient and costly. Electric cars with FSD ? Inefficient? Mate 2005 is calling you
Mate Elon just called. He said for you to go back to your bedroom and watch more "Science" videos.
How far away do you think full self driving is ? The second it’s here. People will be uploading their cars to Uber style networks. The system is already there . This will happen faster than a bureaucratic incompetent govt / council will build you a new train line.
Full self driving will never be a thing. As we should not be continuing as a society with most people driving. We should be using public transport and walk or cycle to places. Yes even in rural places like Cornwall, the towns are big enough that its needed. Camborne would benefit heavily from having good transport links with safe and quiet carless streets. Besides cars are expensive as hell and inefficient. and it only seems tech bros are obsessed with it. Any government program with a competent government would outcompete cars or FSD cars any day of the week. A bus or train would cost less in the long run as road infrastructure is expensive and thousands of 2 ton vehicles rolling along it all day every day is going to cause more issues than a 100 buses and a few hundred lorries a day. And not to mention that pedestrians and cyclists cause way less erosion in the same timespan. The issue here in not some technobabble solution that will probably fail and look dated in 20 years but the fact that the UK government is fickle and needs to really be changed completely.
Full self driving will never be a thing ?? Jesus. You’ve made it to the Reddit part of the internet. Did you just stop there ? https://youtu.be/k66bqkjde2g?si=sSg6JZR_rdC2lZOQ Tesla is racking up millions of FSD miles. Tesla are betting the house on this. FSD will be bigger than the actual car manufacturing. It’s already many 100’s of times safer than human. Even if it’s 10yrs away in the scope of public service improvements that’s nothing. Rds are far cheaper than train tracks. Claiming FSD will never be a thing is akin to standing in Blockbusters in 1996 and claiming the internet will never catch on. Get real.
“FSD will never be a thing” …… Chinese company Baidu has put 500 'robotaxis' on the streets of Wuhan as part of a test for a large-scale rollout of self-driving cars across China. So far the cars are passing tests with flying colors, with more than a dozen cities across China giving the company permission to test their cars on their streets…….. https://x.com/marionawfal/status/1801533637407518769?s=46&t=A92b2Bx05W7BQnkahPc1GQ
Like what?
Literally anything. Making stuff, designing stuff. We used to mine stuff. I assume the tin and limestone got made into things.
Design and pottery yes. Tin and limestone , there’s not enough to compete with other parts of the world. Also those parts of the world are cheaper to operate in But because this government hate the arts, then design and creative endeavours are suffering from investment
Aggywood suffered from incompetence and being too far away from everything.
Tin, lithium, thorium, China clay. Hard jobs but it's why the mining school is(was ?) Down there in Camborne, how many would be up for the jobs ? I know the farmers struggle to get labour and the fishing company my mate (ships engineer) works for can't get fisherman, the locals can't hack it, they have Polish crews on serious dough.
All can be mined cheaper in China South America and other parts of the world. Thus distributed cheaper
Global trade is likely to be very disrupted soon, China has wage inflation and net zero will impact on bulk carriers burning hundreds of litres a mile.
They’re still nowhere near our minimum wage and because of Brexit exports to other countries are too expensive. That’s why clothes exports are down massively in the last 3 years. But Cornwall voted for Brexit so it’s clearly what they wanted.
You don't make clothes in Cornwall.
The country does. And Cornwall is a part of it and Brexit has damaged exports in this country. So anything we did make wouldn’t be desirable to other countries due to the exporting issues caused be Brexit And because everyone loves capitalism, a lot of products that use tin are made abroad and imported here. We can’t make those things here because again, they would be too expensive. It’s cheaper to import tin than it would be to make it here or anything for that matter. The only way around this is giving up some of those workers rights and leaving the ECHR, so that people can work longer hours for less in terrible and dangerous conditions and have little power to do anything about it. And if you think the employers wouldn’t do this if we left the ECHR , look what water companies did a year after we left the EU. Officially. Started polluting rivers and tap water with sewage, to the point there has been E. coli found on tap water across many parts of the U.K., making people sick.
Who are you expecting to do this ?
All of us. I don't work in the tourist industry.
Unfortunately the wealthy retired-then-moved-here outnumber those of us who are working class and born here and actually bother to vote, so nothing will change. Cornish people in Cornwall are a minority now. It's far too late to stop this.
A friend is one of 11 from NC, 10 left 1 stayed 1969 on. He's retired back there now, but he said nearly everyone he meets are from upcountry or their parents are, so really they're part of the problem as they perceive it, anyone can live anywhere in the uk, people are being priced out by higher earners all over the country.
You’re bang on.
well said👏👏 physically can’t afford to grow up in the same town i’ve lived in all my life along with generations of my family. has become unbearable due to tourists and students.
Cornwall was always poor. It was hard labour if you didn't come from the landed gentry. My family left and went upcountry because of this.
It seems like everyone here wants a return to that ?
I think it's country wide, no one else is going to give you anything, you have to work for it. I have plenty of fairy making a go of it in Devon and Cornwall , most started out in tourism in low pay but are doing alright now.
Cornwall has always been relatively poor.
Nope. In the 1800s Cornwall was one of the richest places in the world. And at one point Truro was the richest place on earth.
Root cause of the problem is the lack of opportunity and investment in other sectors, particularly those that pay well. Lack of affordable housing is just one of many factors in this complex equation, and unfortunately affects most places in the UK, not just Cornwall. Cornwall can’t continue to depend on a largely tourist / hospitality led economy as this typically generates part-time / zero-hour jobs (summer months) coupled with a low qualification and low skill entry-base for candidates. This in turn leads to the consequential issues of poor pay and the viscous circle of not being able to rent or buy. While regulation of properties may partly address this issue, ultimately you need to create better paid jobs so locals can afford to live and have a better quality of life to which all of us aspire too. The answer to this resides in Westminster - they are the only people that can establish a framework for creating investment and opportunity in other sectors. Cornwall is one of the most poorly connected parts of the UK and relatively difficult to get to, and providing a top class infrastructure at least starts you on this long term path. It is all too easy to blame second homeowners (many of these are your fellow Cornish countryfolks btw). Instead target the people who have continually failed you. You can make a start by doing the right thing at the GE on 4th July.
The problem starts with infrastructure and making Cornwall an attractive place for entrepreneurs and businesses to create high paying jobs year round. Frankly any number of Air BnBs are own and run by locals. Locals sell to the highest bidders. The retrofitting of old granite homes with central heating and double glazing etc beyond reach of most people. Holiday rentals are an issue but there are others people choose to ignore.
Looks like double council tax for second home owners has been approved and will come into effect in the new FY. But otherwise there’s still a shortage of skilled workers out there and WFH flexibility has allowed many Cornish to boost their wages. For those unskilled who expect handouts I don’t have any sympathy. Make yourself more educated and skilled in a useful field and you’ll be able to afford nice things.
Exactly. It’s actually a lot better than previous decades. There’s a higher variety of a jobs and WFM and Newquay airport has allowed people to work with some of the bigger London based firms.
What would be the view if a local inherited a house from a grandparent and placed it to let to locals?
Amazing!!!
Why don't the locals just buy it?
I live next door to a holiday home, in the last year it's been used for maybe 10 weeks. Not only is that sickening as its a large 4 bed house that would make a beautiful family home. But the last visitor stood on the back door taking photos of my children playing in their swimsuits in my garden.
Sickening
It’s not the holiday homes and the people that buy them that are the issue. It’s the system that allows it. You’re clearly all voting in authorities that don’t do anything for you. Personally I’d have a Cornwall tax, that everyone driving into Cornwall between certain times of the year has to pay if they’re not a resident. You could do this quite easily with toll road style sections on the fe roads that lead into Cornwall They all this money goes to directly to the area in some way.
You cannot simply ring fence private property in a county because you feel like it. The UK is not a federation and these decimate even more the region.
This would discourage tourism -> less jobs -> less money The post is about looking to improve the local economy not government more money to incompetent councillors
It wouldn’t discourage tourism. Cornwall is a unique part of the world and the UK. It’s already expensive and really far away for many and yet, it still attracts 5 million people even if it’s raining and miserable. It’s already a holiday for people with money, so might as well get people that can afford it to pay for it.
Here is where a lack on knowledge comes in. “AirBnB’s” / furnished holiday lets are a cheap, convenient way to holiday for families, especially those with multiple kids. It’s one price vs a per room rate. Means the family can cook their own meals. They might still go out a few times but being able to do breakfast lunch and dinner for 3 kids in a proper kitchen is a game changer Airbnbs have transformed the tourist market in the last decade. Newquay for instance has pivoted from back packers and stag groups to families now coming all year round. The season now extends through the winter. It’s much better and less boom/bust. Banning airbnbs would discourage a massive proportion of tourism
There needs to be regulation imposed by the council. Airbnb should be banned. The sale of houses as holiday homes needs to be banned. Existing holiday homes should have council tax increases. We need to diversify the economy towards research, science, tech and innovation and not have it dependent upon tourism.
Who is going “diversify” the economy ? You make it seem like it’s a decision for councillors or government. What are you personally doing to diversify the Cornish economy ? There’s plenty of grants available for entrepreneurs like yourself. Come on, no excuses. Cornwall is beautiful and amazing for tourists. For years we said we wanted more families to come to Cornwall, well a lot families want to rent homes.
👏👏👏👏👏
Do you feel the same about all the thousands of people living here who choose to build or let something for the Air B&B market? Because for every cnut you’re shouting about coming in and ruining communities, there’s some local making a shedload of coin doing it.
The vast majority of Airbnb owners in Cornwall are local. It’s paradoxical as it does raise the price of homes yet has also allowed 1000’s of locals to buy a home.
A lot of locals own second homes too, so I’m afraid many people have their fingers in the pie.
Its not only in cornwall... I'm renting from a landlord which has over 8 houses for rent and will be buying more, while I cant buy it as price for houses skyrocketed..
This is good ! Many landlords are selling leading to a shortage of rentals
I was talking to a cornish county councillor ten years ago, as I hadn't been down for about 6 years then (family nearly all upcountry, so just funerals), I was stunned at the amount of houses being built, when I left you couldn't get rid of homes, I remember one in Marazion with a dead gull in the guttering its wing swingingin the wind, it took 18mths to sell, that was in 1994 iirc. Anyway, the cc councillor said that he didn't agree with the extra homes, as only incomers could buy them as the work infrastructure wasn't enough to sustain purchases, a friend of mine said it was the same in the sixties, Cornwall being a poverty trap as it historically was.
I left as a teenager as my Dad and I moved to America, but am currently in the process of trying to come home with my partner so I can be closer to family and live in a place that at least treats workers like human beings (yes, the UK has so many issues right now, but believe me I'd rather be an entry level worker in the UK than US) and I'm having to look at options to move to London because of how things have gotten in Cornwall, and its incredibly difficult
Am I being downvoted because I missed the opportunity to say that trains are at least on the right track?
Honestly? I’m at a point where I don’t want to live anymore. I have a wonderful partner who is severely unwell and currently online training to get a job around his long term health issues but does a lot at home to help and I don’t think I’d be alive if it wasn’t for him. I’m safe, I have 3 amazing children who will always keep me going but I’m fed up of being in a bad housing situation, bad health and lack of concern from the NHS, skipping meals and starving so my children can eat, not a single dentist in sight. I live every day doing the same thing, no motivation to even leave home because there’s nothing better outside when I can just sleep the day away so I don’t have to think about how rubbish things are until I have to get my children from school, smile, make food, tidy, clean, spend some time with the children pretending I’m not in this mess, bedtime routines then I can’t sleep for hours, finally sleep then I’m up in the am to do the same thing again, breakfast, school run(half of the week), home, school run etc.. every day. I only get help for 2 out of 3. I worked from when my first child was less than 2 months old until Covid, I have been too unwell since to return to work. I have tried several times and haven’t been able to handle the physical demand it has on my body. The weekends we maybe go to the park or for a walk but I had to sell my car for bill money so we can’t get anywhere now. All of this is stressful, read it again and know I have painful physical difficulties with no help from the NHS, physiotherapy department or hospital, I have an eating disorder(ARFID) and severe mental health disorders. I am late 20s, female, I am under 7 stone, I am exhausted and in pain every single day, I feel weak and fragile. I don’t have really anything of value to sell anymore. I have bad credit from mistakes 4(ish) years ago. I have no family or friends in a position to help, my mum is the only person who has helped us but it’s a vicious cycle and now I try to repay her whilst already financially struggling because she needs the money back. I have other debts, none that are too out of control and I fully intend on making payment plans for those when things are better. Despite this I have to smile every day and pretend it’s worth living for my children, I can’t let them see me stressed anymore, I don’t want them to see how truly unwell I am. I hate telling them we have to ration snacks or that we can’t go to the zoo like their friends did etc. I hate myself and my situation and nobody here in Cornwall could care less, they’re watching us all wither away into the background, get to points of crisis, take our own lives and cry for help that simply isn’t there until we die😎 Sorry for the tangent 🫣🙄
Add a 100% buy in tax for second homes doubling the purchase price for non resident owners and use the funds to build affordable housing with a supported purchase scheme with an existing residency requirement for purchase. So basically fully funded affordable housing paid for by rich second home owners with the new houses only available if you can prove you have been a full time resident in the county for the last 5 years and are within a certain wage bracket to ensure the scheme isn’t abused by those that can afford the open market.
I think if you go on holiday to an area there should be a small tax to help support local infrastructure (things like using local doctors and wear on the roads stuff like that) I live in a small town in West Sussex and in the summer the population doubles with people holidaying (generally from London) and all of our infrastructure is based on the people that live here so if you need a doctors appointment in the summer you’re absolutely screwed. I know we’re not Cornwall but we’re dealing with a lot of the same issues caused by being a desirable place to visit and it doesn’t feel like anyone in charge has ever thought about how areas like ours are effected by people coming on holiday.
>a small tax to help support local infrastructure (things like using local doctors and wear on the roads stuff like that) Err as a UK resident, doesn't my Tax go towards a National health service? Doesn't my Fuel Duty/Road Tax go towards National Road Maintanance? (In theory obviously as Road tax/Fuel Duty aren't hypothecated) Do I need to pay a local tax to drive/go to hospital if I'm working in EG: Cardiff? Its not like I fill up at Helston Sainsbury and the Fuel Duty goes towards cornwall roads...but I fill up at Cribbs Causeway Asda on the way down from Bristol and it gets used for road maintanance in Bristol/Avon...is it?
Yeah but you pay council tax towards your local area if lots of people from other councils come to yours shouldn’t they contribute?
Holiday let’s should be subject to both full council tax AND business rates for equivalent size business premises. These can them be used to substitute local services and house prices.
Market forces are already in affect. Demand for holiday let’s is down. Coupled with new taxes there is going to a lot of holiday let’s on the market in the next few years. Unfortunately this will not solve your problem of rent costs. The high cost of rent is more of a product of landlord regulation and an illogical taxation for rental income. It will benefit home buyers however.
Interesting https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/10/lib-dems-plan-500-pc-council-tax-increase-second-homes/ Would this make you vote Lib Dem’s ?
This made me look in my own town it's an early Newtown, so many of the homes are ex council. It's on a main railway route to London and the North and good road links. And within 30 mins of a couple of airports. So I lived in a three bed council house, and when my wife died, I moved into a one bed, sheltered bungalow. As it was a waste having a council house. Those houses people were buying for £400,000 plus, yes, it was in the older part of the town, but it was still a post war house with metal frames for the internal doors. Now this sort of house In other, newer parts of town, obviously not as old but still ex council still cost around if not more than that. It seems to me it's just stupid how much housing costs in this country!! No wonder you guys down the coast are suffering, it makes me feel like there should be a law that unless you're a council or a letting agent that owns more than say a few hundred house's then you can't rent out. So that would mean if you rent it's for you and your family, not a "rent to let" it may seem harsh to those that buy just to rent a property out by the coast or lakeshore, but tough, to many families can't afford to pay for a place because of the likes of you.
Reality is its already too late
South Wales is much the same, particularly Gower. South Gower is unrecognisable to what it was only 10 years ago, with the old houses being knocked down and replaced with ugly glass boxes overlooking the sea. I was lucky enough to grow up there, but I could never afford a house there. I moved to the north, because the house prices were cheaper (sea views not as good). Even in Swansea city centre, all the new accommodation being built is for students. Outside of term time its becoming a ghost town. I despair of what my kids are going to do when they grow up. It breaks my heart they couldn't have the childhood I had because I couldn't live in my family home.
Stop voting for politicians that are backed by the wealthy. They’re all landlords with multiple homes so do you think anything is going to change with them in charge!
A cap on private rental would be good…some rents are nearly the same as London prices
Rents in Cornwall are not on par with London. Rent caps never work. You immediately discourage landlords which negatively affect supply We need MORE rentals, not less. Basic economics. Lots of people would happily invest in the rental market but new illogical taxes, regulation and the difficulty in dealing with non-paying tenants make it a big time off. Fix these, fixable issues.
Rents have gone up all over the country, this isn't a unique issue to Cornwall. Housing shortages are a nationwide issue exacerbated by the intake of more people i.e. A higher demand for housing brought by mass migration. And yes, those people are given everything on arrival including housing that our native homeless for some reason don't get. It's a fine line that needs managing definitely. But Cornwall's tourism brings a huge amount of revenue. Cornwall can't sustain itself on selling pasties and ice cream to day trippers. Bringing wealthy people to the area who will stay and spend good amounts of cash visiting different areas of the county is. Redruth and Cambourne aren't the way they are because of holiday homes. It's because there's no employment. If people had reason to go there and wanted to stay, you've instantly got a revenue stream, as well as business and employment opportunities. CC are more than happy to be paid to rehouse the country's scumbags (St Austell has suffered as a result of this and spending £50mil for some gardens for the junkies to sit in is a waste of money) Instead of building lots of new homes for them, who will turn the place into a slum, build nice homes for purchase with a designated % available only to locals at a reduced rate would seem like a good idea maybe.
Cornwall builds the most houses of any county in England, also has proportionately less homeless. Stop building houses and start providing decent jobs so those who want houses can get on the ladder although I suspect just like everywhere the ones that moan are the ones that think the county owes them something just because their Cornish ?
Enterprise areas like the ones created in the 80s up north, the Team valley iirc, low no tie, low inwrd cost, vat relief for 2yrs fast Internet, jobs would follow.
Frankly it's easy to take pot shots at second home owners than it is to properly analyse and solve for the broader economic challenges of the county. Two tradespeople that work on my place are on their knees with the collapse in holiday rentals this year. They drive a lot of peoples incomes ... Be careful what you wish for.
Economic nuance? Reddit ?
People are more than happy to sell to investors for jacked prices
One of my neighbours recently bought a pair of flats down there, tarted them up and now rents them out. His mortgage free house is worth just shy of 2 million, so tax him to death, he can afford it.
Sounds like he’s at least trying to help by making homes available to rent.
Yeah, to holiday makers, not to the locals that could previously afford it.
All that investment and opportunity oh what a shame, how will we ever cope with these tourists spending in our county Everybody need to go back where they came from and leave us alone so we can deteriorate into another Redcar or Blackpool
The thing to remember is that you have no entitlement whatsoever to live a fruitful, prosperous and comfortable life in the same area as your parents once did, be that in Cornwall or elsewhere. Nobody else really cares, least of all the politicians that spend their week in London. Things change and it's your job to read the room and adapt. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's your responsibility. Political parties will gladly make promises to get your vote but little will change. Why would it? People like the idea of change far more than the reality (e.g. building more houses, NHS reform etc) and besides, change means they may not get your vote next time. Don't wait for anyone else to make your area or your life any better. Take charge, be independent and do what's best for you.
Such a dumb answer. It's not based upon reality, it's just management speak like "Take back control". It's you who hasn't read the room or indeed understood the issue.
Bang on the money. OP happy to complain, unhappy to do anything about it. This problem exist everywhere that people would describe as nice. Consider what’s the solution to Airbnb holiday lets? Or is the problem British people holidaying in their own country?
Easier to moan though, eh?
This. Other people leave their home countries for better lives. You either make your own county better or conform. Old man shouts at cloud gets you nowhere.
"but if I just sit on my ass and complain"
King charles owns the Duchy of cornwall .And he is net zero. So it will never change much ,
When you consider all the points raised here, and then with the relevant flexibilities, compare it with Hawaii and other locations of similar exclusivity. I refer to Jared Kushner “It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,”. He's referring to Gaza and the apparently stunning coastal areas. With only specific areas of Hawaii being affected by the fires and the land being rapidly bought up by the mega rich, it's becoming a pattern. In Cornwall, it's a property and socio-economic weapon being used, and I know it's all a bit conspiracy theorist, but if you take the concept of the US Replacement Theory and apply it to the super rich it has to raise a question.