London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Cornwall: I have to live in an Airbnb in my hometown

Cornwall: I have to live in an Airbnb in my hometown

As a Cornish painter and decorator, Heath Robinson spends a lot of time maintaining holiday homes - but he never thought he'd end up living in one.

When his landlord needed to sell up, single-parent Heath realised private rents in Penzance, his hometown, had rocketed.

The council couldn't find anywhere to house him and five-year-old son Carson - and they were declared homeless.

But just as they prepared to move to a low-budget hotel, a local man saw Heath's panicked social-media posts and offered them his Airbnb.

The irony of the situation isn't lost on Heath.

"Because of the pandemic, over the past two years pretty much all my clients have been second homers and Airbnb people," he says.

"These people need me for their businesses - but because of the way the system is, we are being driven out.

"High earners can now live somewhere like here rather than in the city and that's hiked up the prices."

Heath had been served a Section 21 "no fault" eviction notice, which allows private landlords to ask tenants to leave, if they meet certain conditions, without giving a reason.

While renters were given extra protection earlier in the pandemic, in England only two months' notice now has to be given.

And that's made life difficult in visitor hotspots such as Cornwall, where landlords are capitalising on rising house prices and lucrative short-term lets.

'It's badly affected my mental health'
Laura feels isolated in the caravan park


Student Laura Williams has had to move to a caravan park, along with fisherman husband Jason and their four children under 10.

She says her landlady served her a no-fault eviction notice after they asked for some repairs.

Laura found one other affordable property in her hometown, Newlyn, but more than 100 people had already enquired.

So three months ago, the council moved the family into an off-season holiday park, half an hour away.

Work, college, school, nursery and their families are back in Newlyn, where Laura often ends up spending the day because of the petrol costs of going back and forth.

"It's quite sad actually," she says.

"I drive over there and I think that's home for us - that's always been our home.

"We don't want a massive house, we just want a home for our kids and for them to be close to where our life is."

Life in the caravan is cramped but lonely.

Her husband is often away at sea and she isn't allowed visitors.

And it could get worse - the family have been told they may be moved as far as Devon next month, when the caravan is needed for tourists again.

"It makes me feel quite anxious," Laura says.

It's affected my mental health quite badly, just the not knowing and being here when my husband's away is quite hard because I've got no friends close by."

Laura says things are cramped in the caravan


The family had been saving to buy a house - but there's no chance now.

"Our days of thinking about buying are well and truly gone, with the prices how they are," Laura says.

House prices in Cornwall rose 50% faster than the UK average in the first year of the pandemic, to £270,000 - 13 times the average local salary, £20,710, which is 20% lower than that of the wider UK.

And there's big price variation around the county, with properties in towns such as Padstow averaging about half a million pounds.

Cath (centre) on a First Not Second Homes march


Cath Navin Hayes, who founded Cornwall campaign group First Not Second Homes, estimates 660 households are in temporary emergency accommodation, two and a half times the usual rate.

"Not enough affordable housing is being built and the private rental market has virtually no properties - and they are often too expensive for the average Cornish wage," she says.

"The pandemic has intensified the problem, with staycations and a lack of foreign travel encouraging investment in property and a flipping by landlords from long- to short-term holiday letting."

The number of short-term listings in Cornwall rose by 661% in the five years to September 2021, analysis from the countryside charity CPRE suggests.

About 15,000 properties are now available as holiday lets, the charity says - the same as the number of families on social-housing waiting lists.

No-fault evictions are banned in Scotland and the UK government, which has been pledging to put a stop to them since 2019, says details of a UK-wide ban will be unveiled in the Renters' Reform Bill in the spring.

But the National Residential Landlords Association says these changes might cause landlords to leave the sector, resulting in a lack of affordable housing.

It wants Section 21 evictions replaced with a clearer system for landlords to legitimately repossess their properties.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×