Cornish MPs have pleaded with the government to enforce tighter rules on second-home buyers in the county after locals have been left furious with nowhere to live. Dubbed an “Airbnb bill” the legislation would aim to protect the housing market for people who want to work and live in Cornwall.
The Times reports, Ben Maguire, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, said the lack of affordable housing was now “an existential crisis”. Mr Maguire has been joined by three other MPs from the region who had a meeting with Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister. More than 22,000 people are on the housing waiting list, and council figures show there were 13,140 second homes, with 2,652 categorised as long-term empty.
The proposals put forward by the MPs aim to make second-homeowners apply if they wish to use the property as a holiday let. The group also want to close the loophole which allows the owner of a home to switch the way it is viewed from residential to business use, which allows them to avoid paying increased council tax.
Mr Maguire, the MP for North Cornwall, told the Times: “If we have plenty of homes for local people and there aren’t people on housing lists, the local authority will have that information and they can make that judgment to say it’s fine to let this house become a holiday let.
“I think you would see housing lists fall quickly and there would be some regulation to balance out the market. If we have plenty of homes for people, the local authority can make that judgment.
“People say no one will ever be able to afford these second homes, but you are now seeing places like Bodmin, which aren’t near the coast and aren’t traditional tourist places, have quite a lot of second homes on the new estates.”
Mr Maguire met Mr Pennycook alongside fellow Lib Dem Andrew George (St Ives) as well as Labour’s Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay) and Anna Gelderd (South East Cornwall).
As of April 1, Cornwall Council planned to start charging second-homeowners double council tax in a bid to raise millions for the county.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act allows local authorities to charge a premium on second homes and Cornwall Council has agreed to charge an additional 100% council tax premium on second homes.
Cornwall Live reports the region is still the second homes capital of England as the number in the county continues to rise. As of December 2024, there were a total of 14,123 second homes according to government figures. It means that one in every 19 dwellings in Cornwall is now classed as a second home.
There was an increase of almost 1,000 homes in the space of a year, up by 7.5% from 13,140 in 2023. The number of second homes in Cornwall had actually fallen that year from 13,292 in 2022.
Cornwall Council is now urging locals to report properties they suspect are not being lived in all year round. The authority plans to raise an extra £24 million thanks to the tax premium.
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