SPAM This thread is for random spam!!

[Tom]

Maybe some retired Welsh people would like to live there, but can't afford to because the local house prices are being pushed up by people who don't actually live there.

I live right next to Altrincham. It's a wealthy area. Nobody who lives there is short of a bob or two.

 

[Bodhi]

Maybe some retired Welsh people would like to live there, but can't afford to because the local house prices are being pushed up by people who don't actually live there.

I live right next to Altrincham. It's a wealthy area. Nobody who lives there is short of a bob or two.

Last time I checked houses being pushed out of reach of people's ability to buy them wasn't a phenomenon particular to the Welsh Valleys.

Personally if someone wants to work hard and buy themself a property near the coast for holidays then I personally don't see too much of an issue - as Gaff mentioned they'll be paying taxes for services they don't use, if they rent it out they're helping bring more tourists (and hence more cash) to the area and will make the owners themselves far more frequent visitors. It wouldn't be my choice personally, but no issue with those that do.

Of course we could just build more houses?

 

[Scouse]

Maybe some retired Welsh people would like to live there, but can't afford to because the local house prices are being pushed up by people who don't actually live there.

So you're saying retired Welsh people, who've moved away, want to go back?

If they've not moved away, then they already live there = no problem.
If they've moved away and want to move back, and house prices have changed (like they have all over the country) then = tough titties

Average house price in Wales? £232k
Average house price in England & Wales? £343k.

Numbers Jan>Feb 2022

Gwynedd is 109% of average wales house price - so ~250k.

Come to Wales. It's fucking cheap. Relatively speaking.

 

[Raven]

Full of Welsh people and upper middle class English cunts, no, thanks!

Beautiful country, not sure clearances are a thing these days though

 

[Aoami]

As can Plaid Cymru members if they're not able to afford houses in the area they want to live in, because there's no jobs there.

Just like everybody else has to.

One of the most conceited, "I'm alright, Jack" statements I've ever read. Wow.

 

[Scouse]

One of the most conceited, "I'm alright, Jack" statements I've ever read. Wow.

Everybody lives in the same situation under the same rules. Why should a small subset of voters get to kick another subset?

Housing is shit for everyone. And as I've shown - housing in Wales is cheaper than average:

Average house price in Wales: £232k
Average house price in England & Wales: £343k.

It's nothing to do with "I'm alright". It's some people screaming "I'm special" - and threatening what they used to do - burning people's houses down if they don't get their own way.

 

[Overdriven]

Roman Abramovich confirms he will SELL Chelsea - and quashes £1.5bn debt owed by club

Roman Abramovich has announced he plans to sell Chelsea.

www.standard.co.uk

I found the new charities website placeholder: https://totallynotarussiannchildcompany.org.uk

 

[Raven]

If he is true to his word, fair play to him. But yeah, I doubt it somehow.

 

[Overdriven]

He said "The victims of the war in Ukraine" - He didn't specify Ukrainian victims.

 

[Scouse]

If he is true to his word, fair play to him

I could spunk a couple billion on my own vanity if it came to me for free when I accepted a massive wealth injection from the new incoming criminal class carving up what was previously public property and effectively handing it to me.

Especially if the "I'm a good guy, honest" narrative I'd be trying to promote meant I'd get to continue to wallow in the rest of my ill-gotten.

 

[DaGaffer]

One of the most conceited, "I'm alright, Jack" statements I've ever read. Wow.

You're literally advocating for taxation without representation. Americans had a revolution over that shit. @Scouse is absolutely right; this is Welsh nats taking an easy swing at a target that has no political means to object, and all the arguments about housing shortages or being priced out are totally bogus. Sure there are hot spots of house prices, but there are always hot spots of house prices, that's why I can't live in Mayfair, which is just sooo unfair.

 

[DaGaffer]

He said "The victims of the war in Ukraine" - He didn't specify Ukrainian victims.

He literally said "all victims".

 

[Overdriven]

He literally said "all victims".

Not being cynical or anything but it's likely to mostly go to Russians.. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Ormorof]

Technically the oligarchs are victims of the war too, all those sanctions on them (sarcasm incase you were worried)

 

[Tom]

So you're saying retired Welsh people, who've moved away, want to go back?

If they've not moved away, then they already live there = no problem.
If they've moved away and want to move back, and house prices have changed (like they have all over the country) then = tough titties

Average house price in Wales? £232k
Average house price in England & Wales? £343k.

Numbers Jan>Feb 2022

Gwynedd is 109% of average wales house price - so ~250k.

Come to Wales. It's fucking cheap. Relatively speaking.

Mr Altrincham, who almost certainly had more money than he knew what to do with and decided to buy a house that spends most of its time empty, doesn't benefit that part of Wales. He's doing it because he can. Meanwhile, people who actually live there and contribute, can't afford a house, in part because of people like Mr Altrincham. You know, the guy who complains in the article about "the rising cost of living", while sitting pretty on an empty house someone could be living in.

I'm all for what the Welsh government are proposing. If you own a residential property, live in it. Otherwise, pay some pretty mega taxes. Homes should be for people to live in - not to accumulate wealth.

I'm also very much for taxing the living hell out of landlords, they should be providing a valuable service only, not funding their retirement off the back of increased house prices.

 

[Scouse]

Meanwhile, people who actually live there and contribute, can't afford a house, in part because of people like Mr Altrincham.

The data, provided by myself and @DaGaffer in this very thread, shows that's not the case though @Tom.

• House prices in Wales are cheap - very cheap. Over a hundred thousand pounds cheaper than the average.
• Holiday homes/second homes make up a tiny proportion of the houses - certainly not enough to make a difference to the prices (which are cheap. Did I mention how cheap they are?)

I think you just want to kick Mr Altrincham is all Tom. Which is fair enough if you feel that way - but we should kick the whole country in the same way - put everyone who owns second homes in the same boat. That's a basic principle of fairness.

Funny that the "burn your house down" nationalists that are prompting these stories are distracting us from talking about real problem - the mega rich. The multi-hundred-million/billionaires who've hoarded all the wealth and the systems which pump money to them.

Sort that problem out, and Mr Plaid Burny Cymru and his bleeding heart hate-the-English nationalist arguments will die in a hole.

 

[Wij]

Roman Abramovich confirms he will SELL Chelsea - and quashes £1.5bn debt owed by club

Roman Abramovich has announced he plans to sell Chelsea.

www.standard.co.uk

View attachment 45847

I found the new charities website placeholder: https://totallynotarussiannchildcompany.org.uk

NET proceeds. Not gross. That could mean any percentage depending on how they do the accounting.

Read The Godfather for more details

 

[Tom]

• House prices in Wales are cheap - very cheap. Over a hundred thousand pounds cheaper than the average.

Which isn't cheap. I bought my house at less than 3x my takehome. Today it's worth more than 10x my takehome. Young people don't stand a chance, which is why I support any measures against those who are bankrolled by house values.

 

[Scouse]

Which isn't cheap. I bought my house at less than 3x my takehome. Today it's worth more than 10x my takehome. Young people don't stand a chance, which is why I support any measures against those who are bankrolled by house values.

That's fuck all to do with holiday homes in Wales @Tom. It's a structural issue with the housing market and we're all in the same boat.

If you support any measures unthinkingly then you're unwittingly supporting really stupid actions - of which this is one.

It's pandering to nationalists, ones who've got form for violent action - that despite what you think, is still going on and getting worse since Brexit and the financial crash.

The o/h's hairdresser expressly forbade a young lad in in her area from burning a holiday home down because she likes the owner (and the owner is far from rich). But the point is that's a conversation that young idiots are actually having - they read these news stories and think "it's all holiday home owner's fault". But it patently isn't.

It's people who've done really poorly at school, for whatever reason, they don't want to have to leave the area, they work in shitty jobs (if they work) because there's nothing else around for them than a bit of bar work or cash in hand fencing - because all the good jobs are elsewhere. And they want a house. Just like everyone else in the UK.

But the argument that second home owners are coming into wales and driving house prices up and destroying the welsh culture is a giant pile of bullshit. It plays well with the newspaper audience though, so they're getting traction and politicians are getting votes on the back of it.

 

[Tom]

I worked on a holiday programme in 2004 I think, we did a lot of filming around Cornwall and Devon. In the villages along the sea, easily more than half the properties were empty. All holiday homes.

Nobody is going to tell me that this is a positive thing, and that wealthy people from London et al aren't pushing house prices up in such places. Including Wales.

 

[Scouse]

I worked on a holiday programme in 2004 I think, we did a lot of filming around Cornwall and Devon. In the villages along the sea, easily more than half the properties were empty. All holiday homes.

Nobody is going to tell me that this is a positive thing, and that wealthy people from London et al aren't pushing house prices up in such places. Including Wales.

Cornwall and Devon are not North Wales. Cornwall's in reach of London, the housing stock is pretty and the places people want to buy are confined in a thin strip right on the beach.

I would absolutely concede that there are pockets of North Wales that are dominated by holiday homes - Mayfair type bits - there's bits of Pembrokshire, the front of Abersoch and a couple of other isolated places that are definitely play areas of the rich - and they come with Jetski's etc.

But the vast majority of North Wales housing simply isn't that @Tom. It's as cheap as anywhere else (or, in reality, much cheaper than most places). And 1.8% of housing stock is second homes.

It's a bullshit argument m8.

Take Barmouth. There's fucktons of holiday homes there. Because nobody wants to live there. It was built in the 18th Century by and for rich holidaymakers - and the train track used to go down the side of the Mawddach estuary and take rich Brummies on holiday.

Then air travel came in and they all fucked off abroad - leaving Barmouth a destitute shithole. The train track closed down (it's now a cycle path for holidaymakers and tourists - the only reason to go to Barmouth).

No Welsh wanted to live there - there's no fucking jobs for miles. So it went further and further downhill. Then, at some point, the number of holiday homes and second homes that were purchased in the area by people who weren't local made Barmouth viable as a town again - people come in for holidays, bars and restaurants started to reopen.

And now what? The Plaid Cymru lot who didn't want to live there because it was such a shithole without proper jobs are now pointing at Barmouth going "look at this - it's fucking emtpy all year, fucking holidaymakers - coming here, making the place unaffordable for Welsh people - TAX THEM".

It's fucking bullshit.

 

[Bodhi]

Which isn't cheap. I bought my house at less than 3x my takehome. Today it's worth more than 10x my takehome. Young people don't stand a chance, which is why I support any measures against those who are bankrolled by house values.

Somebody's bitter they didn't buy more property 15 years ago.

 

[Tom]

Someone is morally opposed to owning multiple properties purely to make money.

 

[Scouse]

Someone is morally opposed to owning multiple properties purely to make money.

How about people who've moved, but rented out their old house?

There's a lot of landlords like that - and they get taxed to hell. The Tories introduced new taxes - but only for people with LESS than 16 properties.

For people with MORE than 16 properties they've kept the tax breaks of the past. But for average joe, who moved out and then let their old house out - all taxed as income.

 

[Overdriven]

How about people who've moved, but rented out their old house?

There's a lot of landlords like that - and they get taxed to hell. The Tories introduced new taxes - but only for people with LESS than 16 properties.

For people with MORE than 16 properties they've kept the tax breaks of the past. But for average joe, who moved out and then let their old house out - all taxed as income.

Time to buy Stoke.

 

[Scouse]

fucking lol

They'd have to pay me to be responsible for Stoke.

 

[Gwadien]

How about people who've moved, but rented out their old house?

There's a lot of landlords like that - and they get taxed to hell. The Tories introduced new taxes - but only for people with LESS than 16 properties.

For people with MORE than 16 properties they've kept the tax breaks of the past. But for average joe, who moved out and then let their old house out - all taxed as income.

Isn't that entirely the point? It's fair game to do it for houses that are unoccupied all the time apart from 3 weeks a year?

Surely that creates problems for local economies? Especially ones that are protected so new housing can't be built?

 

[Bodhi]

Someone is morally opposed to owning multiple properties purely to make money.

And someone obviously doesn't realise who will end up paying the additional tax. Slight hint, it won't be the landlord - it will be passed on directly as rent. Either that or many landlords will leave the market, and what happens to prices in markets where supply is reduced?

 

[Scouse]

Isn't that entirely the point? It's fair game to do it for houses that are unoccupied all the time apart from 3 weeks a year?

Surely that creates problems for local economies? Especially ones that are protected so new housing can't be built?

Read my example about Barmouth above m8.

 

[DaGaffer]

Isn't that entirely the point? It's fair game to do it for houses that are unoccupied all the time apart from 3 weeks a year?

Surely that creates problems for local economies? Especially ones that are protected so new housing can't be built?

Except, it doesn't create problems for local economies; its a non-issue in Wales because the actual proportion of holiday homes is tiny. As for protected areas, if you can't build, you've created scarcity by default, so the prices will rise out of reach of most people anyway. And let's be honest, in the UK such protected areas are few and far between so using that as an example is whataboutery.

You know the true cause of rural house shortages? Old people. Not holiday homes, oldies on their own in the family home with no inclination to downsize and who are living a lot longer. But those people are voters. Can't piss them off.