When did this come in? I’m just looking to book somewhere.
It’s shocking given the housing shortage, safety issues, their potential use in facilitating crime and the taxation situation that Airbnb hasn’t already just been straight up banned at the national level.
I am Welsh and looking to move back permanently after many years away. So many English friends have assumed I’ll be buying a place as a second home.
One of the problems with this discussion, and often why it gets incorrectly labelled as being “anti-English”, is because people seem to act as if the phenomenon is just English people buying 2nd homes in Welsh speaking communities, slowly killing them through a version of 21st century colonialism.
Obviously that does happen to a certain extent, but it ignores the fact that many Welsh people are 2nd home owners themselves. Welsh people can be as much a part of this problem as English people (or other nationalities) are. I live in Cardiff and I’ve lost count of the amount of people who’ve said “I live here in Cardiff but I also have a house back in Ceredigion/Carmarthenshire/Ynys Mon etc where my family are from”. I think they rationalise it by using the family connection as justification, and they often acquired it through an inheritance of some kind, but the reality is that house will be empty most of the time if the owners are living and working in Cardiff. That still causes huge issues for the local community.
For the record, I’m pretty strongly opposed to any kind of 2nd home ownership. I just think this movement could portray itself in a better light sometimes. Mabon ap Gwynfor is one of the most vocal MS’ on this issue but he himself owns multiple properties in Denbighshire and Aberystwyth, in addition to his constituency home and his Cardiff home. This kind of stuff really doesn’t do the cause any favours.
Gwynedd has already implemented “new rules that will require homeowners to obtain planning permission if they want to turn their main property into a second home or holiday let”. The council is also buying up houses in second-home hot-spots.
It’ll be interesting to see how the trend in Gwynedd changes in the next few years and perhaps can be a prototype for the rest of Wales.
I own a second home in Gwynedd (live and work in Gwynedd and am a native Welsh speaker); plan on another one in 2025 which I will rent out. I appreciate this is not a popular move but I work hard and see this as one of the few options available as investing my free time and money into my own future.
I got on the property market by buying an uninhabitable run-down house and working on it myself; had no prior experience and have done this twice now and would encourage it. It’s a lot of hard work and effort but it’s the only way some people can afford to get on the ladder.
I also totally advocate the tighter restrictions on second-home ownership, especially in areas with high concentrations of holiday lets.
I agree
I don’t think people really understand how bad the second home/airbnb situation is this is my story about it.
I am Pembrokeshire born & raised, most of my family still live in Pembrokeshire, I lived there all my life until 2022. I was renting a property that was subsequently sold (and is now a airbnb) Rent prices was pushed up so ridiculously high it was unsustainable too afford a 2 bedroom house in a nice area for a single parent on low wages due to the areas rate of pay from sept 22 to march 23 I was sofa surfing & was put on the homeless list with Pembrokeshire county council and was given Gold Priority after trying for 6+ months of waiting and getting nowhere I had no choice but to moved from Pembrokeshire and start again what makes it worse that we are now going into 2025 & I am still on the homeless list with Pembrokeshire county council I will never move back there now after I had to start again I still feel let down to this day.
7 comments
When did this come in? I’m just looking to book somewhere.
It’s shocking given the housing shortage, safety issues, their potential use in facilitating crime and the taxation situation that Airbnb hasn’t already just been straight up banned at the national level.
I am Welsh and looking to move back permanently after many years away. So many English friends have assumed I’ll be buying a place as a second home.
One of the problems with this discussion, and often why it gets incorrectly labelled as being “anti-English”, is because people seem to act as if the phenomenon is just English people buying 2nd homes in Welsh speaking communities, slowly killing them through a version of 21st century colonialism.
Obviously that does happen to a certain extent, but it ignores the fact that many Welsh people are 2nd home owners themselves. Welsh people can be as much a part of this problem as English people (or other nationalities) are. I live in Cardiff and I’ve lost count of the amount of people who’ve said “I live here in Cardiff but I also have a house back in Ceredigion/Carmarthenshire/Ynys Mon etc where my family are from”. I think they rationalise it by using the family connection as justification, and they often acquired it through an inheritance of some kind, but the reality is that house will be empty most of the time if the owners are living and working in Cardiff. That still causes huge issues for the local community.
For the record, I’m pretty strongly opposed to any kind of 2nd home ownership. I just think this movement could portray itself in a better light sometimes. Mabon ap Gwynfor is one of the most vocal MS’ on this issue but he himself owns multiple properties in Denbighshire and Aberystwyth, in addition to his constituency home and his Cardiff home. This kind of stuff really doesn’t do the cause any favours.
Gwynedd has already implemented “new rules that will require homeowners to obtain planning permission if they want to turn their main property into a second home or holiday let”. The council is also buying up houses in second-home hot-spots.
It’ll be interesting to see how the trend in Gwynedd changes in the next few years and perhaps can be a prototype for the rest of Wales.
I own a second home in Gwynedd (live and work in Gwynedd and am a native Welsh speaker); plan on another one in 2025 which I will rent out. I appreciate this is not a popular move but I work hard and see this as one of the few options available as investing my free time and money into my own future.
I got on the property market by buying an uninhabitable run-down house and working on it myself; had no prior experience and have done this twice now and would encourage it. It’s a lot of hard work and effort but it’s the only way some people can afford to get on the ladder.
I also totally advocate the tighter restrictions on second-home ownership, especially in areas with high concentrations of holiday lets.
I agree
I don’t think people really understand how bad the second home/airbnb situation is this is my story about it.
I am Pembrokeshire born & raised, most of my family still live in Pembrokeshire, I lived there all my life until 2022. I was renting a property that was subsequently sold (and is now a airbnb) Rent prices was pushed up so ridiculously high it was unsustainable too afford a 2 bedroom house in a nice area for a single parent on low wages due to the areas rate of pay from sept 22 to march 23 I was sofa surfing & was put on the homeless list with Pembrokeshire county council and was given Gold Priority after trying for 6+ months of waiting and getting nowhere I had no choice but to moved from Pembrokeshire and start again what makes it worse that we are now going into 2025 & I am still on the homeless list with Pembrokeshire county council I will never move back there now after I had to start again I still feel let down to this day.
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