Empty homes rising

[durruti02]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7744342.stm

kind of fits into my thread on Shelter .. imho the issues around housing are not about build build build but power/ownership and location ..

"The Empty Homes Agency is urging the public to report homes left vacant for long periods so it can inform councils, which can bring them back into use.

Councils have the power to take empty houses over and rent them out.

There are more than 750,000 empty homes in England, half of which have been unoccupied for more than six months.

In addition to the housing slump, the agency blames the rise on an oversupply of newly-built flats in some city centres and stalled housing regeneration projects. "

and yes the interesting bit is the power of councils to take over .. should this be a major activity/demand of the left/@

 

[steve1971]

Is this necessary, surely the councils know which homes are empty based on who is paying council tax? No tax, no rebate == empty no?

 

[oryx]

The introduction of EDMOs (Empty Dwelling Management Orders) a couple of years ago seriously riled middle England - IIRC the right-wing press was full of outrage & scare stories about how people trying to sell their elderly parents' home would be forced to rent it out (probably to asylum seekers......or did I just make that up? )

Hopefully with newly built empty homes belonging to large landlords, EDMOs will be used more.

You're right, steve1971 - councils use council tax records to ascertain empty properties.

 

[Dan U]

Is this necessary, surely the councils know which homes are empty based on who is paying council tax? No tax, no rebate == empty no?

that would imply they have accurate records.

the council i work for doesn't even have a complete and accurate list of the properties it owns, let alone everyone else.

 

[durruti02]

back in the 8ts hackney bought or seized hundreds of empty and usually derelict street properties which they did nothing with until they passed them on to HAs in the 9ts where they were generally converted for social rented housing .. so it can be done .. very differrent political will then though in the Labour Party

 

[TomPaine]

I agree about the building thing. I'm pretty sure people in this country do not want to see the countryside trashed, more road/congestion and the genral quality of life ruined by Browns plan to build 3 million new homes in lego brick housing estates. I mean who the fuck could afford these anyway? And the car to get to town for work? And the council tax on a 3 beedroom property? etc. etc. For fucks sake we are going/in a recession.

What needs to be done, is urban redevelopment. Some of those squalid housing estates we have in the inner cities need pulling down and turning into decent homes, that are cheap to rent for anybody and underground car parks, roof/community gardens etc. Building over the countryside whilst we have derelect inner ciy properties and waste grounds is in my opinion unacceptible.

Faceless suburbia which is neither town nor countryside sounds horrible and under Browns plans would fast become the norm.

TomPaine

 

[Badgers]

that would imply they have accurate recordsl.

What on earth?

 

[Das Uberdog]

What you mean is 'Empty homes on the rise'.

 

[bluestreak]

Is this necessary, surely the councils know which homes are empty based on who is paying council tax? No tax, no rebate == empty no?

This is indeed how councils work out which properties are empty.

My boss is out on a tour of the borough where they are demonstrating a load of empty homes that they have put back into use. Wonder how many there are.

 

[ViolentPanda]

What you mean is 'Empty homes on the rise'.

Perhaps the empty homes have joined the Natural Law party and are indulging in a spot of "Yogic flying"?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I made a TV show about this a couple of months ago. I seem to remember the stats being quite shocking.

 

[tbaldwin]

back in the 8ts hackney bought or seized hundreds of empty and usually derelict street properties which they did nothing with until they passed them on to HAs in the 9ts where they were generally converted for social rented housing .. so it can be done .. very differrent political will then though in the Labour Party

Maybe, maybe not. But i think there is very little pressure on the LP nowadays to act in that way.
Its an interesting point though.

 

[panpete]

In our town we have the homeless projects beavering away as hard as they can, helping loads, but then we have the property developers sulking if they get held up in thier plans to build yet more houses on greenbelt. They were even trying to apply to build new homes on the flood plain ffs.

 

[durruti02]

What you mean is 'Empty homes on the rise'.

thanks teach

 

[tbaldwin]

In our town we have the homeless projects beavering away as hard as they can, helping loads, but then we have the property developers sulking if they get held up in thier plans to build yet more houses on greenbelt. They were even trying to apply to build new homes on the flood plain ffs.

Some of the plans for building so many new homes were always nonsense.
Ken Livingstone for one really disgraced himself with his support for building more and more homes on the Thames gateway on both flood plains and contaminated land. In the UK there are hundreds of thousands of empty homes and no need to build more on contaminated land or flood plains.
Empty homes need to be bought back into use asap (compulsory purchased if neccesary) before building yet more homes.

 

[durruti02]

yep baldwin .. it is hard to disagree that renovation is almost always better than new build .. BUT there is NOt the profit in it nor usually the opportunity to social engineer