Lib Dems end empty homes tax loophole (East of England Liberal Democrats)

East of England Liberal Democrats <info@eastlibdems.org.uk>

Lib Dems end empty homes tax loophole

January 31, 2012 9:32 PM
Originally published by Norwich Liberal Democrats Online

Andrew Stunell presenting Housing paper at conference At tonight's Full Council meeting at City Hall, the Liberal Democrat Group successfully introduced a new policy that will see the existing 10% council tax discount on empty homes removed.

It was also revealed at the meeting that there are 467 empty homes in Norwich. A house is classified as empty if it has been unoccupied for over 6 months or 12 months if it is being renovated.

Cllr James Wright, Liberal Democrat Group Leader at Norwich City Council, commented:

"The 10% council tax discount on empty homes incentivises people to keep homes vacant. At a time when we have a housing shortage in Norwich and a stubbornly high housing waiting list this makes no sense".

"It is a sad reflection of Labour's rule at City Hall that 467 homes still remain empty making use of this loophole. These need to be brought back into use to give Norwich families much needed homes and help reduce the estimated local waiting list of about 14,000. I hope that ending this discount will help the process and it will bring nearly £60,000 into public coffers, as councils will gain from its closure. In the long term we should be looking at ending the council tax discount given to 342 second homes as well."

The Liberal Democrats in government have been working hard to tackle the problem of empty homes. A £100m Empty Homes Fund, designed to bring thousands of empty properties back into use as social housing, has been set-up. While £50m is being used to tackle areas where there are high concentrations of empty properties. Furthermore, The New Homes Bonus means local authorities are now financially rewarded if they bring empty homes back into use. The signs are that these policies are already having an impact, with 21,000 fewer long term empty properties than twelve months ago and the number of empty homes at a seven year low.

Communities Minister, Andrew Stunell, also commented:

"The blight of empty, abandoned homes is putting strain on communities right across the country - if every empty home were refurbished and made fit for living, we could nearly halve the housing waiting list. Thousands of homes have already come back into use in the last year - but there's plenty more to do."