Exmoor National Park to outlaw sale of second homes to outsiders

The village of Brendon in the north of Exmoor National Park is an ideal bolt-hole for city dwellers. Huddled in the picturesque wooded East Lyn valley, close to Lorna Doone country, red deer and open moorland, it is easy to understand why many come here to escape the stress of the office. But now up to 40 per cent of properties in the village are second homes, standing empty for much of the year.

That may soon be about to change. Exmoor wants to stop local people being priced out of the housing market by blocking outsiders from buying second homes. The park authority, which intends to convene within a month to vote on the matter, would be the first national park to impose such a ban.

Exmoor will consider insisting on a change of use for properties that are occupied for less than six months of a year in parishes where more than 10 per cent of properties are second homes. At the same time it will insist that every new building and conversion must be sold to those working or living in the park, or who have had local connections for 10 years.

When Exmoor first announced its intention last year, some declared that such a move would breach human rights. But the park stands by its legal counsel.

"We're not saying no to all second homes but we're looking to keep communities together," said Ruth McArthur, the park's planning officer. "The properties are not occupied during the week and often not even at the weekend.

"There is no one doing their shopping locally or using the post offices, so facilities close down. You can't be sure that it's all down to second homes but it has to be a contributory factor."

Exmoor is responding to the alarming effect that second-home owners appear to have on national parks. In Exmoor National Park property prices have risen by 31 per cent in the past three years to an average of £187,603, with up to 85 per cent of recent sales involving people from outside the South-west. Average wages in the park are just a quarter of the national average income.

"The school, the post office and the village shops have all gone," said Gini Hynes, a licensee at the Staghunters Inn in Brendon, whose three-year-old daughter, Jodie, is now one of just two children in the village. "When I was younger there were 26 children," she said.

The Countryside Agency says 57 per cent of rural residents contribute more than half their income to mortgage costs, compared to 32 per cent of urban inhabitants. According to the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, there are 220,000 second homes and 750,000 empty homes across the United Kingdom.

In the Peak District National Park, the authority has for five years insisted that new houses are earmarked for social housing. The national parks of Pembrokeshire, Snowdonia and Dartmoor have all introduced controls on the building of new holiday homes.

Rural groups have focused on the council tax discounts available to second-home owners, but there are other benefits, including tax breaks, that make a second home an attractive investment.

A second-home owner can reap major benefits if the property is rented out for just 70 days a year as holiday accommodation. So long as the property is made available for 140 days a year for holiday lets, and is occupied for at least half of those by holidaymakers, the owner can charge expenses including maintenance and insurance against income. Losses incurred during the first four years of having the holiday business can also be offset against income tax.

According to Lake District estate agent David Benjamin, seven out of every 10 inquiries are now from people wanting to buy for holiday lettings. "People are spending inherited money, or investing money they might have put into pension plans into these properties instead."

But James Green, an estate agent in Dulverton, Somerset, believes the parks are wrong to move against second homes. He said:"If a cottage sold on the open market fetches £150,000 but will only get £100,000 if sold locally, then who pays compensation to the vendor?"

High living: the cost of natural beauty

Exmoor National Park

Property prices have risen by 31 per cent in the past three years to an average of £187,603. Up to 85 per cent of recent sales involve people from outside the South-west.

Exmoor National Park

(pictured above) Number of second homes ranges from 16 per cent to more than 50 per cent; price for three-bed detached house up by 33 per cent in three years to an average of £195,000 in 2001.

Snowdonia National Park

Number of second homes is 9.4 per cent; average house prices rose from £49,000 in 1996 to £63,000 in 2001.

Dartmoor National Park

Second homes account for 3 per cent of the park's 13,300 homes. Prices have risen from an average of £57,517 in 1995 to £100,130 in 2001.

Peak District National Park

Sixteen per cent of all people who live in the park work outside it – 6,300 people out of 38,000. Average price for a three-bed detached cottage in 2002 is £250,000, up by 20 per cent this year alone.