A report yesterday on the Isle of Man Today website that IoM politician Peter Karran, a member of the House of Keys, had called on Tynwald to develop a scheme under which a limited number of large homes on plots of two to three acres each would be developed has resulted in some 24 mostly negative comments thus far.
Typical of these is a posting by a woman who identifies herself only as "HP" and says she and her husband “are trying so hard to buy a house and when the Government do things like this it keeps the house prices rising”.
Adds “TK”: “Amazing how we try to get planning permission to build a house on our own land we don’t get it. We are Manx born and bred, and want to build something for our children who can’t afford to buy their own house.”
A number of the respondents say attempts to attract rich people to the island are a waste of time, noting, for example, that wealthy residents typically would expect better shopping amenities and restaurants than the island currently offers. Some point as evidence to already existing expensive properties on the island that are currently for sale with, they claim, no takers.
However, some defenders of the plan, including “Happy”, wrote in defense of the strategy. “I for one encourage the planning department to accommodate these long awaited proposals”, this resident said.
Tax cap introduced in ‘06
Although the Isle of Man introduced a ‘tax cap’ in 2006 with the aim of encouraging high net worth individuals to bring their entrepreneurial and job-creating skills to the island, a lack of high-specification housing has often been cited as a reason (along with the climate) that wealthy people might be inclined to settle elsewhere.
Unlike some other offshore islands, such as Jersey, the Isle of Man’s history has not left it with the kinds of multi-bedroomed estates, villas and chateaux surrounded by grounds, stables, swimming pools and outbuildings that rich people typically seek.
It may just be a coincidence, but one of the Isle of Man’s most famous home-owners, Jeremy Clarkson, resides while there in a lighthouse.
The furore on the Isle of Man comes within weeks of a hoo-ha on the island of Guernsey after Hargreaves Lansdown co-founder Stephen Lansdown, the island’s newest mega-rich resident, was quoted as suggesting that Guernsey lacked the kinds of housing wealthy people expect.
“I think housing is a problem here,” Lansdown was quoted as saying.
“On the open market you are paying well over the odds for properties, especially compared to similar types of property in the UK, and there is a problem with the shortage of ‘knock-yourself-out’ houses.
"I was told by the people who showed us around that the complaint that most often comes back to them is that there is nothing that makes people go ‘wow’."
