Vacant Residential Properties

Lord Phillips of Sudbury Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

If I may, I will write specifically on that issue to the noble Lord.

[Lord Phillips of Sudbury (LD)]

Would my noble friend concur with the widely held belief that a high proportion of the foreign purchasers of very expensive London properties are crooks and that they are using the safety of this country in a very cynical way? Has any investigation been made of that? If so, is any action in the pipeline to prevent it?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I cannot agree with my noble friend. London is an incredible place and we want to attract investment. What the Government should be doing—and are doing—is ensuring that we tackle tax avoidance. For example, we have raised the threshold of capital gains tax for people who own properties but are not resident in the UK. That is the way to strike the right balance to ensure that London is a magnet and rightly holds its position as a leading city on the world stage.