Moves to end empty homes 'madness' due to be revealed
The Government is due to announce tomorrow an end to the "madness" of a tax system which encourages owners to leave houses standing empty, despite the desperate need for homes.
Councils across the country are expected to collect a total of £420 million through additional taxes on second home owners and owners of properties which have been empty for two years or more.
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Cornwall Council alone is expected to net at least £2 million from an end to the second home owner tax discount, and the money will be generated into easing the affordable housing crisis in the area, senior councillors pledge.
Around 25,000 homes in Devon and Cornwall currently stand empty, despite huge housing waiting lists. But soon, councils will have the power to add an empty homes tax premium of 50 per cent to the bill of properties which have lain uninhabited for two years or more.
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Andrew Stunell, the Lib Dem communities minister, will confirm the moves at the National Empty Homes conference tomorrow.
He will say: "We've lived with the scourge of empty homes for too long. They're a blight on our communities and a waste of much-needed housing. It's madness that councils have been forced to offer discounts on empty and second homes, which don't take into account local circumstances and provide an incentive to leave homes vacant indefinitely."
Yesterday, Mark Kaczmarek, Cornwall Council's cabinet member for housing, said the authority had 25,000 people on its housing register. "It's absolutely morally wrong to have properties empty when they could be rented out or sold and actually used," he said. "No home should be empty here in Cornwall, and whatever we can do to get them back into use, the better."
He said some communities had been particularly hard hit by second home ownership. "We have fishing villages where the fishermen don't stand a chance of getting a home," he said.
In Devon, the South Hams is one of the areas worst hit by second home ownership, which accounts for roughly one in ten of the district's properties, a total of around 4,500.
John Tucker, leader of South Hams District Council, said the extra income would be around £50,000 per year, once other authorities had taken their tax precept. He welcomed the money, but warned that it would be difficult to monitor the scale of the problem once owners had no incentive to identify themselves. "Nobody is going to register as a second home owner if they're not going to save any money, and especially not if they have to pay more, as some have suggested they should," he said. "But in our view, if you can afford to have a second home, you should have to pay the tax on it like everyone else."
Comments
by Ax0l0tl
Wednesday, May 30 2012, 5:41PM
“Maybe Mrs Hanover Saxe-Coburg Gotha could set an example by giving up her many empty homes.”
by Fistral20
Wednesday, May 30 2012, 7:55AM
“Havermeyer - if second home owners only occupy their properties for only part of the year, why should they pay full or double Council Tax? If it's only occupied for 20 weeks of the year, they pay an inordinately higher percentage than someone who occupies a property for 52 weeks as they don't use Council services for much of the year. Good luck to those people who can afford to own another home, I'm sure most of them have worked all their lives and deserve to reap the rewards.”
by cliffwalker2
Tuesday, May 29 2012, 10:08PM
“If council tax paid by second home owners is increased it's highly likely that they will elect to have the property assessed for business rate as 'self catering holiday accomodation' and claim the small business rate relief. A lot of them are already doing it in our picturesque fishing village in North Cornwall. They end up paying less, and although Cornwall Council collects business rate it all goes to the Treasury and our parish council no longer receives its parish council precept from that cottage. I'm afraid it's the old story that when you try to increase taxes the first thing people do is find a way to avoid it and as second home owners create most of the manual employment on our village council estate - building maintenance, gardening, window cleaning and holiday changeover cleaning - it would harm our lowest paid people.”
by sandyshaw
Tuesday, May 29 2012, 9:08PM
“Well maybe it could be 30% if it was empty and proved it was being advertised at average market prices for lettings or for sale.
A property sat doing nothing with no course of action should be fully charged. This tax is not for just for council services used but exists as a means to allow as much property available to be resided in. Which is very important with so many people wanting a place to live in.”
by ivanovski
Tuesday, May 29 2012, 7:19PM
“No Sandyshaw I am not, but those are only a part of the services which are used. As I have said Council tax on empty properties should be no more that 30% of the full tax. Someone here was advocating 200%.”
by chuckjaeger
Tuesday, May 29 2012, 6:11PM
“I think a complete review of what should actually constitute a council house and it's use should be conducted. The idea of having the government perpetually provide cheap accommodation seems a bit outdated.
I think a case could be made to have housing owned by the council used as a temporary measure to help those in need get on the property ladder. Individuals on low incomes are eligible for the housing but a portion of their rent is ringfenced to build equity that would enable them to purchase in the private sector. When the equity reaches a tipping point where (based on the resident's income) they are able to afford a private mortgage in a similar sized property they have to vacate. Of course there is no time limit on this and I imagine some people would live in these for most of their lives but the expectation is not that it is ad-infinitum and defintely with no 'right to buy'.
A few conditions:
- The houses need to be mixed with private household developments.
- They can never be sold i.e to residents
- Financing for tenants moving out can be through a government run lender, defaulting in payment results in the loss of the purchased home and any proceeds going towards improving quality/quantity of existing housing stock.
This facility could be used by public sector workers such as teachers, new grads in the area, blue collar workers and of course other low paid workers or those in receipt of benefits.”
by sandyshaw
Tuesday, May 29 2012, 5:32PM
“Ivanovski so your happy for the Police to ignore any break-ins or vandalism of the empty property, or think it's ok for the fire service to let the empty house burn down?”
by ivanovski
Tuesday, May 29 2012, 5:09PM
“Havermayer's comment seems to smack of the politics of envy which has never got us very far. When a tenanted house goes empty there is no logical or moral reason why council tax should be paid until the next tenant occupies and starts using Council Services. Council's just like commercial businesses should not be allowed to charge for services that are not being delivered.”
by Enraged_
Tuesday, May 29 2012, 4:15PM
“Yay! All those empty homes in Mannamead and other affluent areas. We could move the problem family next door to me into the house next door to my housing officer and see if she acts quicker when they live in poshville instead of swillyville!”
by maxine711
Tuesday, May 29 2012, 2:14PM
“@Big_Ger - you're damn right they got it wrong! if the right to buy never came in we wouldn't be seeing this housing crisis quite so bad as it is - if council tenants wanted to buy then they would've had to have moved, plus when their children had grown up and left home they should be made to go into smaller accomodation, so the 3 and 4 bed houses were for the families - the right to buy enabled tenants to buy their council house at stupid prices back in the day when it all started, for £10 - 15k and would now be selling those same houses today for over £100k, and they are/were laughing - now the likes of the next generations coming through dont stand a chance!”