[waterhog]

genius - peter dollins - islington tribune (letters) 17.04.16





at last a voice

on page 13 is this a sham

let me park my rolls royce

and i will add to this slam.

property is the safe

the security is rigid

greed and capitalizing is the faith

enter this scam its not frigid.

yes peter there is emptiness

row after row houses and the tower

this is all part of the greediness

leaving it idle shows there power.

we can not have a tax implemented

this is not science from a rocket

the deal was already done and cemented

the rich have the monopoly and are in the pocket.

its not cool to be out renting

all the contracts seem par-larva

leave it decompose and community denting

rob your neighbourhood with no balaclava.

so simple to solve

but my idea is brutal and unforgiving

so that our community can evolve

make sure every single property is used for living.



http://www.islingtontribune.com/doubleemptypropertytax is peter a genius or is he saying what we all no ? could he be bitter he is not on the housing ladder ?

[Kizzy]

I think there's something that came in recently that states there's a timescale for development for land, that stops supermarkets and such just purchasing to prevent competition in areas.

[Toy Soldier]

I dunno about that, but I do think that if a property sits uninhabited and unclaimed with the owners uncontactable for a certain amount of time, say 5 years, the local council should be able to seize and repurpose them as housing. The number of houses sitting empty, abandonned and slowly falling apart, while there is at the same time a massive housing problem, is utterly shameful.

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I dunno about that, but I do think that if a property sits uninhabited and unclaimed with the owners uncontactable for a certain amount of time, say 5 years, the local council should be able to seize and repurpose them as housing. The number of houses sitting empty, abandonned and slowly falling apart, while there is at the same time a massive housing problem, is utterly shameful.

It is, and I further agree as to the sight of housing that as been left to just fall into disrepair often then ending up with them getting demolished is another disgrace.

Housing should never be left unoccupied for any reason in this day and age unless it is uninhabitable.

[Kizzy]

Not sure about claiming it, they should via council tax records be able to trace ownership or next of kin and maybe charge a finders fee?

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Not sure about claiming it, they should via council tax records be able to trace ownership or next of kin and maybe charge a finders fee?

There are literally millions of houses across Europe for which ownership has been "lost". Someone, somewhere is probably entitled to them but basically the owners have either died with no next of kin or with untraceable next of kin, or often, the owner has simply left (e.g. left the country) and has no intention of ever returning, or of being traced.

Ideal scenario really, would be that if they have been abandonned for that long, the council could take them and fix them up as council housing, and then if a rightful owner does eventually come forward (which is highly unlikely) then they could either be bought out for the value of the property at the time it was seized (which is unlikely to be huge due to levels of disrepair) or, if they want, they could agree for the council to keep the rights to letting it out and receive a cut of the rent payments.


There was a really nice 3-bed house just around the corner from me when I lived in England; completely overgrown, windows smashed, a tree actually growing in through one window. I talked to an older guy who had been living in the area all of his life and he told me that it had been empty for something like 15 years; the owner had simply upped and left and no one had ever been seen there since. The house was rapidly heading towards being simply worthless. It's a tragic waste.

Similar situation with a huge 5 bed house next door to my wife's house when she was at Uni. Owner had died and left it to some nephew or other, who was absolutely loaded, lived abroad, and simply wasn't interested in it. It was just sitting there... still had dish cloths in the kitchen window. For year after year .

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

There are literally millions of houses across Europe for which ownership has been "lost". Someone, somewhere is probably entitled to them but basically the owners have either died with no next of kin or with untraceable next of kin, or often, the owner has simply left (e.g. left the country) and has no intention of ever returning, or of being traced.

Ideal scenario really, would be that if they have been abandonned for that long, the council could take them and fix them up as council housing, and then if a rightful owner does eventually come forward (which is highly unlikely) then they could either be bought out for the value of the property at the time it was seized (which is unlikely to be huge due to levels of disrepair) or, if they want, they could agree for the council to keep the rights to letting it out and receive a cut of the rent payments.


There was a really nice 3-bed house just around the corner from me when I lived in England; completely overgrown, windows smashed, a tree actually growing in through one window. I talked to an older guy who had been living in the area all of his life and he told me that it had been empty for something like 15 years; the owner had simply upped and left and no one had ever been seen there since. The house was rapidly heading towards being simply worthless. It's a tragic waste.

Similar situation with a huge 5 bed house next door to my wife's house when she was at Uni. Owner had died and left it to some nephew or other, who was absolutely loaded, lived abroad, and simply wasn't interested in it. It was just sitting there... still had dish cloths in the kitchen window. For year after year .

The house may not have been worth much but the land it was sat on might. I just can't agree with things being 'claimed', they could enforce the land is signed over but pay for it and deduct the cost of clearing any structure on it.

[DemolitionRed]

A house just up the street from my parents was abandoned and derelict. I'm not sure how the council went about things or whether they managed to contact the owners but it was bought under compulsory purchase and then sold at none profit to a person who could prove he had the funds to do it up. It was a listed building though so the council did have a preservation order.

Council compulsory purchase would be the way to go on abandoned buildings.