COSTS OF BUYING HOLIDAY HOMES AND SECOND HOMES |
|
Here are the cost items that you are likely to have to fund when buying a second home: |
 |
|
|
| Mortgage: Mortgage valuation fees and arrangement fees (obviously in addition to the repayments). Follow this link for details of some buy-to-let mortgage options. |
| Legal costs: Legal costs are always a significant consideration and these need to include land registry fees, search fees and stamp duty on property is over £60,000. If buying a holiday home overseas the scale of these legal costs will vary significantly from country to country. |
| Insurance: Buildings insurance and contents insurance. Follow this link for details of some house insurance options for second homes. |
|
| Property upkeep: Maintenance costs on a second home or holiday home are obviously significantly greater than on a main property as they will often have to be paid for rather than " DIY". Depending on the size of the property a gardener may also be required. If your second home is overseas and somewhere warm there may be some import swimming pool maintenance costs to consider. |
|
|
|
|
| Additional local vehicle: For property owners abroad taking advantage of low cost airlines on a regular basis, it is often more cost-effective to have a second car kept at your destination airport rather than using regular car hire. Although mileage would be generally low, this can be a significant cost to plan for. |
|
| Household contents: The cost of maintaining and replacing furniture, kitchen appliances, soft furnishings etc as required is an additional cost that must be considered -particularly if the property is going to be used as a holiday let. |
| Council tax and utilities: Currently second homeowners pay at least 50% of the Council tax that they would pay were the property to be their main residence (in some cases they already pay 90%). On top of this there are the normal quarterly utility bills to be taken into account. |
|
| |
|
