London Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan is calling on the government to allow him to levy effectively uncapped council tax bills on the owners of long-term empty properties.

The Mirror newspaper, in what it describes as an exclusive, says that while councils are currently allowed to charge a premium on long-term empty properties, but only after they’ve been unoccupied and unfurnished for more than two years, this increase is limited to 100 per cent for homes empty for up to five years.

But under Khan’s plan, councils would be able to hike rates to “whatever level they choose in order to make it an effective deterrent.”
This idea has been backed by two other Labour Mayors.

Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotherham tells the Mirror: “Our councils should have the scope to increase council tax to whatever they see fit on vacant properties. We have a housing crisis and there are hundreds of thousands of empty properties.”

And Oliver Coppard, Labour’s Metro Mayor in South Yorkshire, adds: “Surely it now abundantly clear that ministers in Whitehall have no ambition or ability to deliver any sort of housing strategy that gives everyone a decent place to live. Mayors don’t just know our places best, we are ambitious for our communities. It’s time to give us the proper funding, powers and control we need to tackle rogue landlords and empty properties.”

Labour’s shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy is quoted in the Mirror but appears not to have taken a view on the mayors’ proposals.

She says: “Rents are going up – alongside other costs like energy bills and food – which is reducing the amount that can be saved for a deposit, and at the same time the cost of buying a house keeps rising. All this is making the dream of homeownership ever more distant.

“Labour is proudly the party of homeownership and will support families and young people to enjoy the security that comes with getting on the ladder. That’s why we will build more houses, support first-time buyers with a mortgage insurance scheme, and bring in a powerful new Renters’ Charter to make renting fairer, more secure and more affordable in the meantime.”

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