Their one-bed Victorian terrace flat, which is perched on the town’s crescent, is a second home. The couple live in Leeds, about an hour and a half drive away. They had often enjoyed driving over with their family for weekend getaways, and so, 15 years ago, they decided to pay £122,000 for a weekend home overlooking the sea.
They decided to put their house on the market before the increased tax was introduced, for an asking price of £165,000. They had little interest. In January, they tried again, putting the house up for auction for £90,000 – £32,000 less than what they bought it for in 2010. So far, they haven’t had a single viewing.
Susan Pape and her husband own a one-bedroom flat in this large Victorian complex (Photo: Iamproperty)
On 1 April, North Yorkshire Council, following the new government legislation, set out to tackle the problem of rising house prices and upped the council tax on second homes in the area by 100 per cent. Following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Autumn Budget, stamp duty was also raised from 3 per cent to 5 per cent on second homes across the UK, making the sale of second homes more expensive for the buyer.
Pape, 72, a former journalist and novelist, now pays double council tax on their home, meaning they are facing an extra £3,000 a year on top of an eye-watering service charge of £5,000 a year. As retirees, it is unaffordable. “I am really worried. It’s very stressful. We thought it’d be lovely to sell the flat to a local person, but local people aren’t looking for this sort of property,” says Pape. “We thought it would be ideal for a young person looking to buy their first home, or a couple looking to stay in the area, but we haven’t had one single first-time buyer or local person come to view it.”
square WORK My boss was bitching about me on Slack – and accidentally sent the message to me
Read More
Instead of houses fit for families, the market in Filey is now swamped with small apartments, well-suited for holiday lets or second homes. “A lot of second home owners are just giving up and selling up,” says Pape. “We’ve got friends who live in Filey, and it’s always been a really lovely, welcoming place. You’ve got all the bed and breakfasts, you’ve got the caravan parks, and there are people who live there full-time. It came as a complete shock when I heard what they were going to do to the second homeowners.” Pape gets on well with locals in Filey, but she feels rejected by the council. “It’s really soured relations. I know a lot of us no longer feel wanted.”
In some areas of the UK, such as Gwynedd in Wales, the premium on second home council tax has been a success. (Wales has been able to set its own council tax rates on second homes since 2023.) A 150 per cent council tax premium on second homes contributed to a 12.4 per cent decrease in house prices by the end of 2024, which has made house prices more affordable for local residents.
But in other areas, villages are full of unsellable homes. According to data from Action on Empty Homes, more than one million UK properties are currently unoccupied, with 261,189 homes empty for more than six months.
“Lots of rural locations are really struggling. It’s always tougher to sell in these types of locations anyway, because the volume of people looking to buy is bound to be lower than in urban areas, but it’s dropped considerably as a result of the second home tax and homeowners are having to take the hit on prices they paid in order to move on, especially if there is a need for speed.”
Pugh-Jones’s cottage by the water is on sale for £325,000
Her two-bedroom cottage in Cornwall has a large garden terrace that looks out over the river. She’s a 12-minute drive from the nearest beach, and the local pub, a village hub, is just a short walk away, also nestled on the waterside.
But in the nine months that Pugh-Jones has had her house on the market, she has received a total of three views and zero offers. Six estate agents later, and a price drop of £95,000, she is still waiting for a buyer.
Two months after Pugh-Jones’s house went up for sale, the stamp duty on second homes in England rose from 3 per cent to 5 per cent. And in April, Pugh-Jones’s council chose to raise the second home tax to the maximum 100 per cent.
Ross Worthington, Director of RAW Adventures, has lived in the National Park of Snowdonia for 15 years. He moved from the southeast with his partner and daughter to set up his adventure tour company. He is English, but his daughter, 15, considers herself Welsh and is fluent in the language.
square WORK My boss was bitching about me on Slack – and accidentally sent the message to me
Read More
Half of the homes on the terrace street opposite Worthington are holiday lets. But in Snowdonia, as well as in Cornwall, Norfolk, and Blackpool, holiday lets have also been required to pay a premium on council tax per month. Now their owners are also urgently looking to sell.
The BBC reported that in October, Judith Robbins, who has eight self-catering units in Blackpool, was billed £20,000 in council tax. “It was a kick in the teeth for those individuals who were already coming to terms with council tax bills they could not pay, making their property very hard to even give away, as any buyer would spot a desperate need for the seller to sell,” he adds.
When Pugh-Jones moved to the south coast of Cornwall 11 years ago, she purchased her cottage from a second-home owner. “I turned it into my main home,” she says. “I’m just desperate to move back now. My son has another baby on the way, and I don’t want to miss anything. I just don’t think I can afford to bring the price of the house down anymore. Houses in Bath [where I’m looking to buy] are much more expensive.”
For now, though, for both locals and second-home owners, the wait continues.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘We don’t feel wanted’: Why second-home taxes don’t just punish the rich )
Also on site :