Corbyn' s at it again !

drew · Jun 15, 2017

Bozza said:
Sounds a piece of piss. Pleased to hear these poor families will be sorted tomorrow. It will be tomorrow, right?

Whether or not it is a good idea, your sarcasm at this present time seems a little misplaced!!!

Buzzer · Jun 15, 2017

Bozza said:
Sounds a piece of piss. Pleased to hear these poor families will be sorted tomorrow. It will be tomorrow, right?

Come on matey. That's not fair. I've already said it's fraught with difficulties. I'm not saying it's a quick or easy process at all, I'm sure it's not but if looked at properly, maybe a workable scheme could be put in place.

Bozza · Jun 15, 2017

Buzzer said:
Precisely this. We don't have nearly enough social housing and little or no affordable housing for private purchase here in the South and it desperately needs looking at. Maybe a radical change in the law is needed for property speculation which certainly aggravates the problems. I honestly have little sympathy for those property speculators who live elsewhere and who have houses bought purely for profit and not being rented but sitting empty.

If a law is brought in that encourages them to sell or rent it out or have the potential for it being borrowed for 6 months, once every 3 years then maybe that might change things. Alternatively, make the council tax surcharge much, much bigger. It probably won't stop buyers at the high end of the market but it might deter speculators who are buying up houses that would otherwise be bought by the average bod.

I think things should change and maybe this is the time to start looking at it.

Agree with all of that. My point was only that I doubt anything could be done with regard to vacant privately-owned housing stock to help the poor families displaced in the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Buzzer · Jun 15, 2017

Bozza said:
Agree with all of that. My point was only that I doubt anything could be done with regard to vacant privately-owned housing stock to help the poor families displaced in the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Gotcha. Yes, you're probably right there.

Raleigh Chopper · Jun 15, 2017

Bozza said:
Sounds a piece of piss. Pleased to hear these poor families will be sorted tomorrow. It will be tomorrow, right?

I just want something rare to happen. I want to see our PM and Government hand in hand with the other parties to make strong and right decisions now. No expense spared, no wishy washy words, no lessons will be learnt, strong leadership and decision making, this is a chance for politicians to show us what good they can do.
No political point scoring, but its hugely disappointing that May did not meet a single resident, after the election this was her chance to show us that she can engage and she is not the belligerent person she seems to be, and she is going to change,but she ballsed it up, again, whats the matter with that woman.

Bozza · Jun 15, 2017

Raleigh Chopper said:
I just want something rare to happen. I want to see our PM and Government hand in hand with the other parties to make strong and right decisions now. No expense spared, no wishy washy words, no lessons will be learnt, strong leadership and decision making, this is a chance for politicians to show us what good they can do.
No political point scoring but its hugely disappointing that May did not meet a single resident, after the election this was chance to show that she is she can engage and she is not the belligerent person she seems to be and she is going to change and she still ballsed it up.

If May had met residents, she'd be criticised for not seeing victims in hospital. If she saw victims in hospital, she'd be criticised for not rescuing people from the inferno on Wednesday night. In certain quarters she can't win right now, with some justifiability, but not all.

beorhthelm · Jun 15, 2017

Buzzer said:
Precisely this. We don't have nearly enough social housing and little or no affordable housing for private purchase here in the South and it desperately needs looking at. Maybe a radical change in the law is needed for property speculation which certainly aggravates the problems. I honestly have little sympathy for those property speculators who live elsewhere and who have houses bought purely for profit and not being rented but sitting empty.

If a law is brought in that encourages them to sell or rent it out or have the potential for it being borrowed for 6 months, once every 3 years then maybe that might change things. Alternatively, make the council tax surcharge much, much bigger. It probably won't stop buyers at the high end of the market but it might deter speculators who are buying up houses that would otherwise be bought by the average bod.

I think things should change and maybe this is the time to start looking at it.

with the yield from rents far more than you can get elsewhere, i believe the scale of this issue is greatly overstated. i recall the total reported empty properties in London is ~0.5% and thats including all those awaiting renovation. the number going empty for years is down to single digit thousands. that might be enough for the displaced from Grenfell, but they arent going to necessarily be in the immediate area as some politicans seem to think. after renting, the wealthy are more likley to keep a property as a peid-a-terre for occasional visits, rather like we might buy a villa in the Med. social housing needs to be addressed with real policy reform to build more properties, and more land is available so prices can moderate.

Raleigh Chopper · Jun 15, 2017

Bozza said:
If May had met residents, she'd be criticised for not seeing victims in hospital. If she saw victims in hospital, she'd be criticised for not rescuing people from the inferno on Wednesday night. In certain quarters she can't win right now, with some justifiability, but not all.

I'm sorry, that's not right, she was right there, it would not have hurt to meet some residents and nothing would have been said, Khan and Corbyn have managed it, to do nothing has once again left her open to criticism. Nobody is going to hospital because I should imagine they are in a right old state and traumatized .As for the rescuing bit we will let that lie.
Anyway, that's all I wanted to say, don't want this to look like political point scoring because it isn't.
I just want the politicians to get it right and sort this out starting tomorrow.

Buzzer · Jun 15, 2017

beorhthelm said:
with the yield from rents far more than you can get elsewhere, i believe the scale of this issue is greatly overstated. i recall the total reported empty properties in London is ~0.5% and thats including all those awaiting renovation. the number going empty for years is down to single digit thousands. that might be enough for the displaced from Grenfell, but they arent going to necessarily be in the immediate area as some politicans seem to think. after renting, the wealthy are more likley to keep a property as a peid-a-terre for occasional visits, rather like we might buy a villa in the Med. social housing needs to be addressed with real policy reform to build more properties, and more land is available so prices can moderate.

Fair enough, I'm sure you're right but that's not to say something can't be done. According to this news report there could be around 800k empty houses in the UK although this is disputed later in the article with a figure nearer 200k. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...-hits-highest-rate-20-years-calling-question/

drew · Jun 16, 2017

beorhthelm said:
with the yield from rents far more than you can get elsewhere, i believe the scale of this issue is greatly overstated. i recall the total reported empty properties in London is ~0.5% and thats including all those awaiting renovation. the number going empty for years is down to single digit thousands. that might be enough for the displaced from Grenfell, but they arent going to necessarily be in the immediate area as some politicans seem to think. after renting, the wealthy are more likley to keep a property as a peid-a-terre for occasional visits, rather like we might buy a villa in the Med. social housing needs to be addressed with real policy reform to build more properties, and more land is available so prices can moderate.

There are 3.5m dwellings in London (inner and outer). A rate of 0.5% is 17,500! It is reported that in Kensington and Chelsea there are over 1300 long term vacant dwellings, many of which are purely investment. In the aftermath of a disaster, that should be plenty, only needs for there to be some method of utilizing them.

neilbard · Jun 16, 2017

Bozza said:
As much as it would clearly be a lovely thing to do, it's just not practical in terms of this particular tragedy is it? Why? Well how about...

1. How do you determine which properties have been empty for long enough? Seriously - how would anyone know?
2. Where do you draw the line between "Empty for too long" and "Empty but not enough so we can't reclaim the property"?
3. What if an "Empty for too long" property owners are returning tomorrow? Or the day after? Or next week? Where do they go when they can't live in the property they legally own?

There may be a wide-scale problem here, but I'm not sure how it can be rectified in the immediate vicinity of the disaster in the very short timescales required, as much as is sounds great to propose putting some of these poor people in multi-million pound properties.

Although this is a small point but owners of these properties pay full council tax, also properties would all need certificates the same as if you were renting, it just isn't practical the man is a fool.

brightn'ove · Jun 16, 2017

Buzzer said:
You could be onto something. Anyone with a long-time vacant property (say 3 years) that isn't or wasn't their main residence might find that it gets requisitioned for max of say, 6 months in a 3 year period. Put measures in place so that say, old people in long-term care or those working abroad don't get caught out. Could work.

This is how it works in many countries. In Peru for example if you spend longer than a year away from a property it becomes the property of the state.

Wrong-Direction · Jun 16, 2017

People still slagging off Jeremy whilst May continues to cut all our services? Some absolute morons on here it's truly shocking.

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Kinky Gerbil · Jun 16, 2017

Would it be more realistic for the Goverment to force hotels/AirBnbs to give up a percentage of rooms for free for a period of time?

Titanic · Jun 16, 2017

Wrong-Direction said:
People still slagging off Jeremy whilst May continues to cut all our services? Some absolute morons on here it's truly shocking.

And that isn't equally moronic?

Wrong-Direction · Jun 16, 2017

Titanic said:
And that isn't equally moronic?

Please don't ban me again, I know the truth hurts sometimes.

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Gritt23 · Jun 16, 2017

El Presidente said:
Regardless of one's political leanings, the extent of foreign ownership of property in the UK, especially London (and within that Kensington being particularly attractive) is scary.

Many of these properties are vacant, simply because the owners, who are frequently nameplate companies registered in tax havens, use them as a store of wealth, rather than as a dwelling.

Take a look at the Private Eye map of foreign ownership, note the prices of the properties, and ask yourself how did we let this happen?

https://suemarcar.carto.com/viz/9fc804fa-4b6b-11e5-a73d-0e0c41326911/embed_map

Without these foreign investors the construction industry would still be at 2008 levels. The reality is that it is the oil $$$ investors that are making the industry as buoyant as it currently is. That brings a lot of employment with it. It's not a simple fix to just chase these people away somehow, we need them, and we need their investment.

mikeyjh · Jun 16, 2017

Obviously it's an idea that comes with some practical challenges but really, it's got to be worth exploring?

Peoples reactions to this tell a story about their outlook, some will say why not, let's get it done. Others will leap in straight away and tell us why it can't be done.

It's also what differentiates those in life (and in business) who see opportunities and get things done with those who do not.

AmexRuislip · Jun 16, 2017

There's always been an ongoing issue with London's housing shortage.
A lot of the boroughs use properties in other boroughs to house families etc
Notting Hill has an association using properties in Hillingdon, which does solve a problem.
Genuine people who need housing, should be treated like humans and not cattle.

Below shows a 2015 trend on Londons borough performances.

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/key-facts/overview-of-london-boroughs/

Bozza · Jun 16, 2017

mikeyjh said:
Obviously it's an idea that comes with some practical challenges but really, it's got to be worth exploring?

Peoples reactions to this tell a story about their outlook, some will say why not, let's get it done. Others will leap in straight away and tell us why it can't be done.

It's also what differentiates those in life (and in business) who see opportunities and get things done with those who do not.

Just in case you are tarring me with your negative brush, I'll reiterate all I'm saying is that I don't believe it's possible to help the Grenfell families NOW when they need the help, which is what this thread is/was about.

Longer term - sure thing.

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Corbyn' s at it again !

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