Sadiq Khan’s latest ^brainwave^

Good grief- now we're blaming the housing shortage on elederly people still renting the same council house?

Unbelievable.

GrannyGravy13

Doodledog maintenance on council properties from the mid 80’s until now is more expensive than private rentals/home owners. They have strict H & S protocol (rightly so) which is non negotiable.

The procurement procedure was/is very convoluted, they buy from who they know which in most circumstances is not the cheapest.

(Our business has been involved with LA procurement since the late 70’s)

Ah right, thanks. Were repairs and so on not carried out safely before?

Either way, I know that those paying full rent don't have a particularly cheap deal, and that tenants were/are able to look on their house as their home - ie not worry about being turfed out when the children left home, or forcibly downsized to a small flat. I appreciate that families need housing, but had the houses not been sold there would, in theory, have been enough in the coffers from rent to build new ones suitable for households of all sizes.

As it is, because the only people with enough points to get social housing tend to be poor, they don't pay full rent, and there is less money in the system. Not only that, but social housing is now run by HAs, and I assume that they will take a cut as they need to make a profit, too?

Maybe there should be an honest conversation about how many empty homes there are. In my one small street there are 3 houses that are empty. One is a large family home that has been unoccupied for at least 5 years. It is a large family home but is in need of renovation. It’s been on the market for ages but potential buyers are put off by the £1.8 m price tag and the fact it will need a huge amount to make it habitable. There are also numerous homes in London which are bought as investments by foreign buyers and lie empty. Surely there should be some way of taxing homes which lie empty for years, even banning foreign investments in U.K. housing which are just left empty.

I couldn't agree more. I think that after a grace period to allow people to sell or rent out empty houses they aren't living in (eg after a divorce or when they are inherited) there should be a prohibitive tax on them to deter people from hanging onto them as investments.

Doodledog

I couldn't agree more. I think that after a grace period to allow people to sell or rent out empty houses they aren't living in (eg after a divorce or when they are inherited) there should be a prohibitive tax on them to deter people from hanging onto them as investments.

Putting a time frame on selling a home after parents/relatives have died is a step too far in my opinion.

The entire probate process, clearing out a loved one’s belongings and maybe IHT is stressful enough, without a clock ticking away.

I once lived near a very nice house which was empty for fifteen years due to a disputed divorce settlement. Eventually one of the owners died and the other one put the sadly dilapidated house up for sale. a bargain for a builder and a loss for the surviving partner.

Surely 5 years is long enough for probate. Maybe extensions could be applied for genuine problems. After that any tax/ fines could come out of the estate.

vegansrock

Surely 5 years is long enough for probate. Maybe extensions could be applied for genuine problems. After that any tax/ fines could come out of the estate.

I wasn't meaning a few weeks . Long enough to be realistic, and yes, with a right to apply for an extension if there are genuine reasons (ie not deliberately over -pricing so it doesn't sell) but not long enough for it to decay whilst not offering shelter at a time when people are sleeping on the streets.