Monday, January 18, 2010

Empty homes?

LIB DEMS WANT EMPTY HOMES BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE

Sorry, it's them who's shouting, not I.

http://www.wessexfm.com/news/review.php?article=110495



Posted by Anonymous to swanageview at 3:10 PM
Posted by at

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good, but how is this going to be achieved. PHAG, encouraged PDC to do something about this a few years ago and others have been writing letters to PDC to encourage higher 2nd home tax, but to no avail. Always the same answer 'nothing can be done'.

18/1/10 8:01 pm
Anonymous said...

Yes, a noble ideal but difficult to put into practice. Fine if empty homes are owned by councils, but what of privately owned homes? You cannot simply take them by eminent domain (or perhaps you can, legally, but where will private/public ownership begin and end?).

A balance between higher taxes for home left empty for no good reason, and incentives to encourage owners to let or selling these homes, might help. But I suspect it will not solve the problem, and no doubt some will abuse it for personal gain.

I wonder how many of these homes have been left to deteriorate and are not really fit for letting?

18/1/10 10:12 pm
Anonymous said...

Apart from second homes and holiday lets the district council is empowered to take control of houses that have been empty for six months or more and let them. A power they seem to have little interest in using. Westbury on Rempstone Road comes to mind.

18/1/10 10:56 pm
Anonymous said...

'Apart from second homes and holiday lets the district council is empowered to take control of houses that have been empty for six months or more and let them.'

Certainly there are specific conditions. They cannot simply take somebody's home without just cause and following a legal procedure with the possibility of appeals. What about homes that have been languishing on the estate agent's listings for more than six months, while the owner has moved elsewhere due to employment? Would that not be a justifiable reason to leave the home alone while it sells?

In any event, if that power exists, PDC should have taken over the Pier Head wreck and let it to someone who would do something positive with that eyesore!

20/1/10 12:58 pm
Anonymous said...

Use it or lose it ! No this can't be done either.

Sell it or squat it ! No this can't be done either.

Tax 200 to reinvest for local regeneration.

Please please PDC planners, encourage building developers to build appropriate homes for modest incomes,(to buy or rent) and please discourage the type of housing that will be unlikely to ever be lived in. Small 2 bedroomed houses with a small patch to grow veg.

21/1/10 7:50 pm

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)