Stop second home owners coming to Eastbourne

The Herald of November 19 highlighted a warning from new Housing Minister Michael Gove about overpromising on the prospect of lower housebuilding targets.

In the same edition E Loughby ended his letter with the hope that his children will finally be able to afford a mortgage in Eastbourne click here to read.

One particular step could be taken to give rise to Mr Loughby’s hopes without even mixing up another batch of cement.

We could wipe out the practice of second-home ownership.

In our close of 12 flats, we already have one that is a second home and we are about to see a second.

In several Eastbourne apartment blocks there are examples of the same, in some cases a disproportionate percentage.

This obviously reduces the property stock.

Our part of the coast could develop similar problems to those of Devon and Cornwall where second-home ownership is pricing out local young people.

I have shared correspondence recently on the matter with our MP, with whose views I often concur.

But Mrs Ansell points to the extra council tax that is levied on second-home owners and that local authorities have been enabled by Government legislation in 2013 to remove the requirement to offer a discount on second homes so that councils can charge the full rate.

In this case I believe Caroline misses the point.

People with second homes are by definition not short of a few bob.

They could probably afford substantial surcharges.

One has only to consider the situation in London with its moneyed foreign owners.

Russian oligarchs and Arab sheiks would not quibble about paying a few extra quid to local councils.

The aim should be to disallow second-home ownership in the first place, except for caravans and holiday chalets that cannot be occupied for 12 months a year.

Dispensing with the ability to buy a second home would have a downward effect on the price of property.

Perhaps then Mr Loughby might be in with a chance of seeing his children affording a mortgage in Eastbourne.