Second Homes

Our flights to Italy were always carefully planned, with the bare minimum of clothes, leaving the maximum room in the suitcases for the supplies we intended to bring back. A couple of kilos of Parmigiano, 6 kilos of Risotto rice, assorted coffees, one or two other cheeses, a salami or two, fresh Borlotti beans if it was summer, anything else that caught my eye in the markets and perhaps a bottle of Grappa if there was room. I could usually manage to bring back enough to keep us going till the next holiday.

Half the fun of going to another country is to sample the local produce. The only item I ever take with me is a specific jar of coffee.

You wonder why they go and live in France, in the narrow sense if they do not want to live in it in the wider sense.

As second home owners, on a patch with one other inhabited house we do not know many French people, but we know no British people. Our next door neighbour takes a crop of hay off our 'lawns' before the grass cutters start and keep us supplied with eggs, a pumpkin and occasional lettuces. When we go to the bar/restaurant our roofer is usually there so we chat and he recommends any tradesmen we need.

Fortunately DH is built and dresses like one of the locals and just fits in. His French is also better than mine.

Love the little supermarkets in France and Belgium. Half the fun of the holiday.

I only ever carry enough food and drink to get me across the channel and then I go overboard with the shopping in France. I shop at the last supermarket before crossing back to UK so that I have nice food for a week or two.
We usually stay in a house up a lane and up a track so the village butcher and baker gets our trade as does the 8 till 8 ( that closes for two and a half hours at lunchtime )

Good on you Flowerof the west. I know many Brits who live in France who order everything from Tesco or Iceland, get it delivered to a third party who then brings a van with all the stuff to the Dordogne(shire) once a month (:

We certainly contribute to the local economy in our area of France, not just the local shops, we do not import food, why bother when the local food is so good, then there is the local award winning cider maker, restaurants, we also employ the local roofer/chimney sweep, garden help, plumber, buy most building, materials in France etc etc.

It's not just the competitiveness Jess it's the disturbance to the birds that is the problem. We love to see all species but not to the detriment of the nesting birds.

That's an interesting point Charleygirl. Our area has always been primarily privately owned, with a cluster of housing association cottages, and various small built apartments for elderly folks, and another for people in need of social support. The problems with the housing market mean we have an increased number of houses that are rented. You are so right, the lack of care makes them stand out.

Where I live, it is a cul de sac with 16 houses and 2 flats in NW London. About half of the houses are privately rented and the other side of the coin is that rarely do these people wash a window, mow a lawn or do any weeding. My neighbour's guttering has leaked badly for a couple of years and the landlord has done little about it. He may have a clean up in between tenants but the present family have been there for 3 years so he has done zilch. The last time I saw the landlord I told him that his house was a thorn between 2 roses as I and my friends the other side, maintain our houses. He just laughed. This lowers the value of our houses I think.

Who is selling the houses that become second homes? Is it better if the house is used as a holiday let? What if it's used for most of the time by family and friends? What about inherited property? More complex than it first seems!

To be fair Flowerofthewest- Brits are famous for going on holiday to France and Switzerland/nearby Europe with everything but the kitchen skink and buy absolutely nothing locally. My neighbour is a senior customs officer at the border crossing on the short-cut to the Alps- and told me the other day they have cottoned on to this and are raking it in. You can only bring 500gr of meat per person, and 3.5kg of cured meats (sausages, ham, etc) and poultry. Many Brits going skiing bring a lot more in the plug in coolbox- they are catching lots of them and then can charge 20CHF per kg tax plus 40CHF per kilo fine = 60CHF (about £40 per kilo)- which makes the 'cheap uk meat' in fact quite expensive.

But I totally agree with you- people going on holiday should contribute to the local economy (via shops, cafés, etc).

Competitive birdwatching. Amazing isn't it. Enough to make you want to set up border control and confiscate scopes and binoculars over a certain size.

The Holiday cottage that we go to on Barra is owned by the surviving daughter of the family who lived there. We had to book last year for this year as the cottage is usually fully booked. The owner and her friends use it in the odd week when there is a vacancy. So that particular property is occupied all year round. It can sleep 9 which means there is a good input to the local economy, probably spending more in the shops, cafes, pubs and attractions than the family of four who used to live there permanently. It also gives employment to a woman who does the weekly changeovers (who told us that she usually gets more in tips than in wages -hint! hint!) The visitors also use the ferries and airport, keeping them viable for islanders and provide 'rent a crowd' for fundraising events.

If, however, a house is only occupied sporadically, there is no benefit to the local community/economy. I agree with Nellie that Council Tax should rise steeply for properties left vacant for long periods.

Oh and not forgetting the so called birders. There are an awful lot of twitchers who feel it their right to tramp over moorland etc to get a 'tick', I even know of a couple men who walked within a few yards of a nesting Golden Eagle and took photos. This is illegal and punishable. A certain camper van pulls up overlooking a nesting site for a Harrier and points out the nest to birders. The nest was only a few feet from the road. He was spoken to by the local RSPB but took no notice.

Just a thought, when we were on the island a couple of years ago the main complaint amongst the islanders was the fact that there were so many camper vans and they are becoming more and more each year. Trundling over crofts, leaving gates open and they tend to load up with foodstuffs on the mainland for a fortnight and do not use the local shops for produce.

I feel that it is only fair for those coming to the islands should help the local economy by shopping locally and enjoying the landscape and with consideration and respect for those who live there permanently. I love the islanders and respect their way of life. My DH has given wildlife talks to raise funds for the local wildlife group and his records are utilised when appropriate. We also use the local library for the three weeks we are usually there.

I WANT TO LIVE IN THE HEBRIDES

Newist first of all, love and hugs. The cottage we stay in and have for the past 13 years does belong to a family who do own it as their second home. They bought it as a run down and previously neglected place which was used as an animal 'sanctuary'. I do agree that there are many who buy and only visit once a year or so. Our friends go over as often as they can and this is several times a year. They do intend to live there permanently when they retire and they also buy locally (building materials) and give much work to local businesses such as builder, plumber, gardener and fencing people.

The owner you mention seems to me to be a very selfish person and probably comes over with a car load of produce to live on for when he stays for a week or two.

I agree with Dragonfly that if we ever had bought a house in the Hebrides it would also be our only home.

Dragonfly it is a magical place to live, but it has been a bit damp lately

Newist, if I was ever lucky enough to own a property in the Hebrides it would be my first and only home! I wouldn't want to leave.

Sorry I have to take an opposite view here. I appreciate some places are ghost towns in winter as a result of holiday homes (Salcombe suffers from the affliction) but 1) People are entitled to spend their money as they wish and 2) Is it not locals who sell to them in the first place?
If planners are that concerned then a covenant could be placed on a home as is sometimes the case with agricultural tennant dwellings but I would imagine the owners would object as it would devalue their property. It is certainly a thorny issue but one which is man made and perhaps whether we care to admit it or not borne through greed.
As for the Bishops Avenue example that is somewhat different as derelict or not those properties can afford to remain empty, fall into disrepair and still be worth tens and hundreds of millions.

This was already a problem when we moved to Cornwall 40 years ago. We had Cornish friends who were living in caravans because they couldn't afford to buy houses. Not only were the houses being bought as holiday homes, but the owners would arrive with their cars packed full of supplies for the holiday so they were contributing very little to the local community. Their contributions tended to be complaining about their neighbour's cockerel or the local farmer muck spreading.

I agree with jings (!)
I know people with second homes and it looks like a kind of tyranny to me - you must spend your holidays there (so you don't get the variety of holidays), you have to do gardening, property maintenance etc when you get there. And all the housework and cooking. You'd have to really, really love a location to want one.
One of the couples have had a horrendous boundary dispute which has cost them a fortune and ended in them being bullied out of a big chunk of garden.
Another person has a much loved second home - but only one of her daughters really likes going there. I foresee a disagreement about it after her days.
Not envious.
In regard the original post - difficult to know how it can be controlled isn't it, unless the local council bought the homes and put council tenants in them.

it was a problem but inheritance laws have changed and families are smaller so this happens much less frequently.

What I do think sometimes happens now is that adult children move to cities and away from their rural roots and when the surviving parent dies, if the house is small and run down and probably difficult to sell, the family just turn their back on it and forget it. I think this happens quite a lot in the more remote parts of France where large areas have been steadily depopulated over 60 or 70 years and there are no buyers available.

However recently there has been a return to the country and a lot of run down farms locally have been gentrified by the French themselves.

FlicketyB I have heard that in rural France houses are often left almost to rot, as families cannot agree about anything once the relative [the owner has died.] Is it a problem there?

As a second home owner - in France, where rural dereliction has made British homeowners very welcome. Prices are low there compared with the UK and there is a great tradition in France of second home. In one or two small coastal resorts near us nearly 90% of the houses are holiday homes and no one seems particularly bothered.

In the UK it is different and I would feel uneasy buying a second home, especially in a holiday hot spot like, South west, Cotswolds, Lake District etc. We have a shortage of housing, very little building and in hot spots prices are being driven up by people who do not intend to make the home they buy a permanent home.

Mind you retired people moving to these places from other parts of the UK also drive prices up because they are cash buyers and if they have come from the south east are capital rich cash buyers.