Holiday and 2nd Home S.106 Buying Restrictions Spread

More UK holiday resorts and destinations are tightening up on the sale of new build properties for out of line buyers, 2nd homes buyers and holiday let purchases.

St Ives piloted a scheme many years ago and with the government now allowing local authorities to tighten up on planning permissions granted to ensure that local workers and people who are ‘born and bred’ will have access to affordable homes.

Section 106 Agreement

Planning obligations, sometimes known as section 106 agreements, are legally enforceable obligations made under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This is an agreement between a property builder and the Local Planning Authority (LPA).

More LPAs are now, as part of a planning application, placing s106 restrictions that require either a local connection test or a principal residence test to be met for buying new housing.  There are examples particularly in National Park Authority areas of the Lake District, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales as well as the South-West.

Across Cornwall and Devon there are now many so called ‘section 106’ restriction new build developments that can only be bought by people that have been in the area for so many years or those that have accumulated a minimum number of years in the area even if they have a year or two of gaps.  Even when an owner of a s106 restricted property comes to sell up and move on, the property will still have the s.106 in place to protect locals as part of the title deed restrictions and covenants.

Whitby on the North-East coast is the latest to introduce restrictions to help local buyers and Brighton appears to be heading towards the same.

Comment

This is a tough one.  Our head office is in Newquay, Cornwall so we see the problems with locals, even our own staff at one time, trying to find a home they can afford yet coastal resorts also need tourism and new money coming in to support the local economy or develop new business opportunities and employment.

It will be nice to have a balance of a competitive main property market with markets forces only dictating prices but also having sufficient s.106 restricted property areas where only locals can afford to buy.