Lib Dems urge planning permission for second homes
Sellers of properties to buyers of second homes should first seek planning permission, Liberal Democrat MP Julia Goldsworthy has claimed.
The MP for Falmouth and Camborne called for government assistance as residents in Cornwall were being effectively priced out of the housing market by the exorbitant cost of property prices.
The MP’s constituency includes some of highest proportion of second-home owners in England.
Granting local authorities the right to intervene to “sustain” communities could “partially” tackle the problem, she said.
‘We think the problem of second homes can be partially tackled by giving local government more authority; more authority to set business rates rather than council tax and also to give them the powers so that to change a full-time home to a second-home will require planning permission.”
The Lib Dems are also concerned that rules permitting people to invest in residential properties as part of a pension plan may lead to more second homes and inflationary pressures on rural house prices.
“The problem is going to get much, much worse because the self-investment pension plans are going to allow investment in residential properties,” she said.
“Now, Standard Life think that that’s going to result in 10 billion pounds of investment in residential property, so we’re very concerned down here that this problem is going to get much, much worse.
“The average house in Cornwall is now five times the average income, and that’s putting it out of the range of many people who need to work here and need to live locally.
“It’s the most expensive place in the country compared to income, and there has to be more than one solution.
“There has to be increased shared ownership and more investment in affordable housing,” she advised.
But Tory local government spokesman Eric Pickles said the “illiberal” policy may result in “two classes” of homeowners, with the threat of negative equity hanging over many.
“You will have thousands of people plunged into negative equity because most people will have borrowed to obtain these houses,” he said.
More than half a million English families own a second home. Over half of those families use their properties as weekend or holiday homes.
