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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/live/2016/may/25/should-the-government-ban-second-home-ownership-live-debate
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Should the government ban second home ownership? – live debate | Should the government ban second home ownership? – live debate |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 12.44pm BST | |
| 12:44 | |
| James Walsh | |
| Lots more interesting contributions via our form, with anonymous contributors urging us not to forget the rest of the country. | |
| Here’s a 42 year old from Kent: | |
| It’s not just London, housing prices are climbing fast elsewhere too. | |
| The problem is that politicians love expensive housing - it’s a measure of wealth and GDP, there’s no incentive for our elected representatives to ensure that there’s truly affordable housing for the vast majority of us who aren’t millionaires or who are paid by a shell company in the Virgin Islands. | |
| The question is how can we force change - and quickly. | |
| We’ve also received comments making the point that many of our elected representatives are themselves landlords. | |
| Related: Number of MPs who earn from renting out property rises by a third | |
| Updated | |
| at 12.44pm BST | |
| 12.36pm BST | |
| 12:36 | |
| There’s also information available from the English Housing Survey on the Department for Communities and Location Government website on second home ownership. The most recent data comes from 2013-14. It shows: | |
| The table below also shows the location of second homes. | |
| 12.36pm BST | |
| 12:36 | |
| Sarah Marsh | |
| So, just how much of an issue are second homes? | |
| There’s some interesting information on this via the BBC’s reality check series (a chunk of which is posted below): | |
| In the 2011 Census, 1,570,228 people in England and Wales said they had a second address in England and Wales outside the local authority of their primary residence, that they used for 30 days or more each year. | |
| Another 47,733 of those people had second addresses in Scotland or Northern Ireland, while 820,814 had second addresses outside the UK. | |
| But these are not all second homes in the sense that the Liberal Democrats are talking about: | |
| And indeed these figures are not for the number of second addresses, they are for the number of people with second addresses, and many of these second addresses will have been given by more than one member of a particular household in the census. | |
| 12.26pm BST | |
| 12:26 | |
| James Walsh | |
| Housing was a key issue during the London mayoral campaign, with eventual winner Sadiq Khan pledging to crack down on foreign ownership of new homes in the capital. Islington Council’s James Murray has been brought in as the mayor’s deputy for housing with a brief to increase overall housebuilding and the percentage of “genuinely affordable” homes - “affordable” being a contentious term when rents are set at up to 80% of the local market rate. | |
| Can you afford to rent or buy in the capital? Do you feel people buying second homes and ‘off-plan’ purchases of new build properties is affecting your ability to live and work in London? | |
| The areas surrounding London are being decimated in regards home ownership. Those in London who now have major amounts amount of money inflated in their properties are using it to buy up homes in the neighbouring areas of Bucks, Herts and Beds. Salaries do not even increase in line with property prices. | |
| The failure to tackle Londons housing crisis is now being exported further a field and the only ones laughing are London home owners - many Labour ones as well as tories. | |
| We should ban foreign investors from buying up properties (eg Russian and Arabic billionaires in London). If they're unoccupied they should be confiscated or subject to a bedroom tax! | |
| 12.17pm BST | |
| 12:17 | |
| James Walsh | |
| The debate is underway below the line. Here are a few viewpoints to get us started: | |
| I'm more of a fan on the increased taxes for second homes rather than an outright ban.Also i'd like said increased taxes be set aside for a fund for local council house building. | |
| Regarding the comment | |
| In practice, but I don’t see how that could be enforced. A family, for example, could put one home in the husband’s name, another in the wife’s name and a third in a child’s name. Alternatively they could hire a front man who would “own” the home but allow the beneficial owners to stay rent free or receive a “rent” which was used to pay a mortgage. | |
| How would this affect an every day occurrence such as inheriting a parents house? Would the beneficiary be forced to sell the property as soon was practical? | |
| Obviously the debate is here to answer this and other questions but it seems impractical to me. | |
| Homes should be sold on the basis of need. Then by those who live / were bought up closest as the first priority, | |
| Second home buyers should always come last in the pecking order. Always. Slightly behind BTL landlords, who should be second last. | |
| 12.00pm BST | 12.00pm BST |
| 12:00 | 12:00 |
| Matthew Holmes | Matthew Holmes |
| Earlier this month we asked readers around the UK what impact second home ownership was having on their towns and communities. | Earlier this month we asked readers around the UK what impact second home ownership was having on their towns and communities. |
| We heard from people living not only in coastal towns in Cornwall and nearby Devon, but also inland areas such as north Wales and the Lake District National Park, which has recently published a report on the impact of second homes on rural communities there. | We heard from people living not only in coastal towns in Cornwall and nearby Devon, but also inland areas such as north Wales and the Lake District National Park, which has recently published a report on the impact of second homes on rural communities there. |
| Russ, who is 33 and originally from North Devon, said he was forced to move away from where he grew up due to predominance of second homes. | Russ, who is 33 and originally from North Devon, said he was forced to move away from where he grew up due to predominance of second homes. |
| I grew up in an area now dominated by second homes, went to university, came back to work in a well paid profession (I’m a solicitor) and I wanted to give back to my community – yet I cannot afford to buy a house for me and my young family. In the North Devon district the average house price is 11.4 times higher than the average salary: how is that affordable? | I grew up in an area now dominated by second homes, went to university, came back to work in a well paid profession (I’m a solicitor) and I wanted to give back to my community – yet I cannot afford to buy a house for me and my young family. In the North Devon district the average house price is 11.4 times higher than the average salary: how is that affordable? |
| Cath, a restaurateur from Bembridge is feeling the impact on her Isle of Wight community: | Cath, a restaurateur from Bembridge is feeling the impact on her Isle of Wight community: |
| There is an imbalance in our community now, with second homers pushing up house prices, excluding young and/or first time buyers from areas of the island. This creates a divide in neighbourhoods: there is a very definite ‘them and us’ attitude, on both sides. | There is an imbalance in our community now, with second homers pushing up house prices, excluding young and/or first time buyers from areas of the island. This creates a divide in neighbourhoods: there is a very definite ‘them and us’ attitude, on both sides. |
| We also heard some of your potential solutions.A reader from Anglesey who prefers to remain anonymous was one of many who discussed an overhaul to council tax system: | |
| Second home owners should pay much more council tax so that they actually contribute to the local economy rather than stifling it. This could be calculated on a sliding scale proportionate to the amount of time they spend here. | Second home owners should pay much more council tax so that they actually contribute to the local economy rather than stifling it. This could be calculated on a sliding scale proportionate to the amount of time they spend here. |
| You can share more of your experiences with us in the comments below, or anonymously with the form posted here. | You can share more of your experiences with us in the comments below, or anonymously with the form posted here. |
| Updated | |
| at 12.35pm BST | |
| 11.47am BST | 11.47am BST |
| 11:47 | 11:47 |
| Sarah Marsh | Sarah Marsh |
| Another interesting thought .... | Another interesting thought .... |
| In practice, but I don’t see how that could be enforced. A family, for example, could put one home in the husband’s name, another in the wife’s name and a third in a child’s name.Alternatively they could hire a front man who would “own” the home but allow the beneficial owners to stay rent free or receive a “rent” which was used to pay a mortgage. | In practice, but I don’t see how that could be enforced. A family, for example, could put one home in the husband’s name, another in the wife’s name and a third in a child’s name.Alternatively they could hire a front man who would “own” the home but allow the beneficial owners to stay rent free or receive a “rent” which was used to pay a mortgage. |
| 11.46am BST | 11.46am BST |
| 11:46 | 11:46 |
| We are kicking off in 10 minutes and have already had lots of interesting stuff coming through via our anonymous form: | We are kicking off in 10 minutes and have already had lots of interesting stuff coming through via our anonymous form: |
| I work as a GP in the south east of London and have done for the past 10 years. During that time I have seen house prices not just grow but explode way beyond my income, which is in the top 3% of salaries nationwide. | I work as a GP in the south east of London and have done for the past 10 years. During that time I have seen house prices not just grow but explode way beyond my income, which is in the top 3% of salaries nationwide. |
| My husband and I now pay out over £30,000 a year in rent and nursery fees for our child. We’re now looking at moving out of the capital, despite investing years of time and energy into jobs and our local community. If we have a six-figure household income and can’t afford to buy in London, who can? | My husband and I now pay out over £30,000 a year in rent and nursery fees for our child. We’re now looking at moving out of the capital, despite investing years of time and energy into jobs and our local community. If we have a six-figure household income and can’t afford to buy in London, who can? |
| Anonymous, 38, south east London | Anonymous, 38, south east London |
| 10.35am BST | 10.35am BST |
| 10:35 | 10:35 |
| Welcome to our live debate | Welcome to our live debate |
| Sarah Marsh | Sarah Marsh |
| At a time of rising homelessness (up by almost a third last year), should the government ban second and multiple home ownership? | At a time of rising homelessness (up by almost a third last year), should the government ban second and multiple home ownership? |
| There’s been a lot of debate on this, with news of the Tower, a 50-storey apartment complex in London, owned by foreign investors and left unoccupied for most of the year, and council plans in St Ives, Cornwall, to make new-build properties in town available only to full-time locals to help residents on the property ladder. | There’s been a lot of debate on this, with news of the Tower, a 50-storey apartment complex in London, owned by foreign investors and left unoccupied for most of the year, and council plans in St Ives, Cornwall, to make new-build properties in town available only to full-time locals to help residents on the property ladder. |
| So, what do you think? On the one side, banning second homes is risky, particularly for tourist areas such as St Ives. The London School of Economics is studying the effects of a similar ban in Switzerland, noting a negative effect on local economies. Christian Hilber, an associate professor in economic geography there, speaking to Quartz, said he recommended a tax that discourages from people buying property and leaving it empty, rather than a ban. | So, what do you think? On the one side, banning second homes is risky, particularly for tourist areas such as St Ives. The London School of Economics is studying the effects of a similar ban in Switzerland, noting a negative effect on local economies. Christian Hilber, an associate professor in economic geography there, speaking to Quartz, said he recommended a tax that discourages from people buying property and leaving it empty, rather than a ban. |
| But on the other side, house prices are out of reach for most people – what can we do to make housing more affordable? Do we have a moral obligation to ensure residents are not pushed out of the areas that they grew up in? What other solutions are there? | But on the other side, house prices are out of reach for most people – what can we do to make housing more affordable? Do we have a moral obligation to ensure residents are not pushed out of the areas that they grew up in? What other solutions are there? |
| Join us 12pm-2pm today to debate live below the line. Comments will be open at noon but check back on the page for updates and relevant information, which we will be posting over the course of the morning. | Join us 12pm-2pm today to debate live below the line. Comments will be open at noon but check back on the page for updates and relevant information, which we will be posting over the course of the morning. |
| If you would prefer to add your thoughts anonymously feel free to submit them via the form below. | If you would prefer to add your thoughts anonymously feel free to submit them via the form below. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 11.49am BST | at 11.49am BST |