Grandmother can't sell idyllic Cornwall home despite slashing £100k off price
Debbie Pugh-Jones has been trying to sell since last August
Debbie Pugh-Jones has lived in Golant for more than 10 years
(Image: Debbie Pugh-Jones/SWNS )
A Cornish homeowner cannot sell her 'dream' holiday cottage despite discounting it by £100,000 - thanks to the double tax whammy hitting second home buyers. Debbie Pugh-Jones, 69, has lived in Golant near Fowey for 11 years, but wants to sell up and move to Bath, Somerset, to be near her grandchildren.
The two-bedroom house was worth an estimated £425,000 during Covid, but Debbie put it on the market last August at £400,000, hoping for a quick sale. But there has been little interest and the price has gradually been reduced to £325,000 - a 25 per cent reduction - without success.
Debbie, a travel writer, said the property market in Cornwall has been decimated by the rise in stamp duty on second homes and a doubling of council tax on such properties in an effort to provide more homes for locals. She said the community was in danger of becoming a 'ghost town' because of unsold properties that are lying empty.
''People are putting their houses on the market and just can't sell them - the houses are lying empty," she said. 'It's not good for the local economy. Second home owners bring a lot to the economy.
''When they rent out and people come here on holiday, they spend more and eat out more than people who are here permanently. I know somebody whose council tax has gone up to £6,000 a year, he wants to sell up because he can't afford that extra tax.
'You're going to end up with a ghost town. The locals try their very best to keep the pub going, especially in the winter, but the pub makes its money in the summer when the tourists come down. 'If that's discouraged, that's going to have an impact on the local economy.'
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Debbie Pugh-Jones at her home
(Image: Debbie Pugh-Jones/SWNS )
Stamp duty on second homes in England rose from three per cent to five per cent in October last year and Cornwall Council introduced 100 per cent council tax premium on second homes in April.
Debbie said: 'I put my cottage on the market in August with the aim of moving to the Bath area because my son has a daughter and I was missing out on her growing up. I'm expecting another grandchild now, another girl, and I'm really desperate to move.
''A few years ago I probably would have rented this place out and got another mortgage, but it's the extra stamp duty that's just prohibiting me from doing that now. I did think maybe I could buy something in Bath as a second home and get a mortgage. But even a house for £400,000 I'll be paying £20,000 stamp duty. It just makes it not viable.'
Her property has now been on the market for nine months with six different estate agents.
She said: 'Originally the house went on at £400,000 but it didn't get any interest at all. I changed agent, still no interest, no viewings. I went through two more agents, then to a company which said they would try to market to investors.
'I came down in price to £365,000, but still nothing happened. So I decided to put it back on the market with another local agent, she got one viewing for a potential investor, but he wasn't interested.
'Another new agent with a shopfront – we're down to £350,000 now – I had viewings from two potential second home owners. A new agent in April said, you know, just forget what happened in the past, we're starting new today. I've still not had any viewings and I brought it down to £325,000 last Friday.
'The extra council tax that's been put on definitely hasn't helped the situation and neither has the extra stamp duty on second homes."
The property was a second home before Debbie bought it for £240,000 as her main home 11 years ago and spent £30,000 on renovations.
Debbie Pugh-Jones outside her home
(Image: Debbie Pugh-Jones/SWNS )
'Around half of the homes in this village are second homes," she explained. "But unlike many places where they're anti-second home owners, in this village here, we appreciate second home owners.
'The average age here is over 60, it's where people retire and have second homes. There's not a school in walking distance, there's not public transport.
'This sort of policy, saying second homes could be suitable for first-time buyers, just doesn't add up here. Say the average price of a house in this village is probably around £750,000 or £800,000 – one's gone on the market at £1.9 million.
'I can't really afford to reduce the price anymore, given the house prices in the area I want to go to. If you take into account how much I bought it for, how much I've spent on it, plus inflation, I'm just going to be well out of pocket on it."
Homes that are left empty, defined as unoccupied and substantially unfurnished, for more than a year, are also subject to 100 per cent council tax in a move introduced by the government in 2018 to discourage homeowners from leaving property vacant. Buyers who take on an empty property which is already subject to this tax take on the premium.
Debbie added: "Second home owners are feeling very hard done by because, not only are they paying double council tax, they're not using very many of the facilities council tax is supposed to pay for. They're paying for bins, roads, and education, and what are they actually getting from the £6,000 they're giving Cornwall Council when they're not here all year round? Second homeowners are being made to feel almost evil, which is so wrong because they really do contribute to our village.
'The odd one will get sold, but there are quite a few houses in this village that are just sitting empty. There's one on my road, the lady died and that's been on the market since last year, that's been reduced from £700,000 into the £600,000s.
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'The road below me, there's a house that's been on the market there for maybe two years. It's a problem. These homes are empty now.'
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