Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill

Trudy Harrison Excerpts

2nd reading: House of Commons & Programme motion: House of Commons & Ways and Means resolution: House of Commons
Monday 23rd April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes]

See, Madam Deputy Speaker, I told you—I have had to totally recalibrate with regard to the intellectual approach of other Members. We certainly do not use much Latin around the table in my house. It may not have been Latin; who knows? It is probably important that I return to the Bill.

[Trudy Harrison (Copeland) (Con)]

May I draw my hon. Friend’s attention to the need to deal with empty homes in rural areas? I refer particularly to my constituency, of which two thirds is in the Lake District national park. Empty homes are a blight on our society. They have a negative impact on rural schools and businesses, which is why it is so important to see empty homes being put to good use and filled with people in rural villages.

[Eddie Hughes]

It is fascinating how much we can learn in this Chamber. I have been walking in my hon. Friend’s constituency and have often thought how beautiful the properties and the scenery are. I cannot imagine that anybody would want to leave a property there vacant for any period, let alone an extended period of more than two years, such that it would cause elements of the Bill to be triggered. When we come to the Chamber, we get the opportunity to hear from Members representing constituencies across the country, and that is what makes this institution so great.

I can obviously only speak on behalf of and with regard to the good people of Walsall North, Willenhall and Bloxwich, so it is great to hear stories from around the country. The point is that if people are prepared to leave properties vacant in beautiful constituencies such as my hon. Friend’s, this is clearly a problem that the Government need to tackle, and I believe the Bill goes a long way to tackling it.

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[Michelle Donelan]

I completely agree and this is one example showing that the Government are listening and that there is a dialogue with businesses and business groups, which have been instrumental in discussing with the Government the formulation of the Bill. That is essential and we need to foster business confidence, especially with Brexit. Only the other week, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury pointed out that we have the highest internet penetration of the retail market in Europe, so this is a particular problem for the UK.

[Trudy Harrison]

Does my hon. Friend agree that this will be of particular interest and help to start-up businesses? They often initially occupy a small part of a building as an embryonic enterprise, but as they grow the measure will support them too?

[Michelle Donelan]

That is an excellent point, which has been a bit neglected in this debate. Start-ups and microbusinesses will benefit in particular from the Bill.

Clause 2 is another measure the Government are implementing to right a wrong. It is about helping to increase our housing stock. As we all know, we have a severe housing shortage in this country, yet thousands of homes are left empty, which is ludicrous.

The Bill will give local authorities the power to charge a 100% council tax premium on empty properties, rather than just the existing 50%. The charge is for homes that have been unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for two years or more. The number of homes that have been vacant for over six months in Chippenham has fallen by 12% since 2010, so one might ask whether the measure is necessary. It is, because we still have 1.16 million households on the social housing list and there is a housing problem, so it is important that we take measures such as this today. Further increasing the premium will, I strongly believe, incentivise owners to sell or rent their properties. I strongly believe that.

I also stress that this is only one action. We must not be under any illusion that the Bill will, in any circumstances, fix our broken housing market—it will not—but the solution has multiple parts and this is one of those answers and one of the measures that the Government are taking.

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[Michelle Donelan]

I completely agree. The housing crisis is one of the biggest challenges that we face in this country, so it is right that local authorities would look to ring-fence funds. I am sure that a number of them appreciate the fact that this is a key issue for their residents and will prioritise this. They are best placed to understand their residents and to make decisions based on the local area, because every area is different.

I want to stress the point that locally people are sitting on properties, waiting for their value to go up. They do not want to rent them out because of the hassle, inconvenience or stress that that can cause. That is a problem because, if they are not selling them, those properties are left empty while people are waiting to get a property. That situation cannot continue. However, I think that the two-year period is fair.

[Trudy Harrison]

It is simply not fair for homeowners living next door to these properties, whose houses have been affected by damp and other problems resulting from those properties not being properly maintained. That devalues their homes, on which they have spent time and money. They have renovated them, but their pride and joy is being damaged by empty properties next door.

[Michelle Donelan]

I completely agree. I have said that these properties are more susceptible to vandalism and there is antisocial behaviour around them. It is uncomfortable for neighbours and people in those communities.

The two-year period is fair. It allows homeowners sufficient opportunity to sell the property, rent it out or complete major renovations that might be required. The Bill is an example of the Government supporting localism because local authorities, as has been mentioned by many hon. Members, will still make the decision on whether to apply the premium and the exact rate that is to be charged. They can review the empty housing stock and the housing supply and demand locally, and make an informed decision. That is an example of this Government trusting local authorities.

I am confident that the majority will continue to use that power. In fact, 2017-18 figures show that 291 of the 326 local authorities chose to apply the empty homes premium. In addition, there is scope for them to assess on a case-by-case basis—for example, where a homeowner is struggling to rent out or sell a property or to do the repairs. This is not a punitive measure, but a fair and measured one. The 2013 guidance will still stand, reminding local authorities to take into account the reasons a property is empty. As I have said, this is about protecting rather than penalising owners of homes. This Government do not want to stop or discourage people from getting into the property market and on to the housing ladder; it wants to encourage and facilitate them. That is the very nature and essence of this Bill.

I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) that we must be careful that this is not abused. We do not want people to find a loophole whereby they tinker with the property as they approach the two-year marker. I would like to hear the Minister explain how we will address that because it is very difficult to protect those homeowners who are doing the right thing, as opposed to those who are trying to avoid the rules. We need to seriously tackle our housing crisis.

My only ask of the Minister is to review the impact of the increase and to later look at increasing it again. I believe that, to truly incentivise homeowners to rent out or to sell their property, the cost must be quite high, especially in areas of London or other places where the housing market is very high, because people will sit on those houses and their value will go up considerably, month after month, and they can then write off the increase in the empty homes premium if it is not high enough. There is an argument to review it and increase it times five. If someone is doing the right thing and renting the property out, selling it or doing it up in a timely fashion, they will not be punished at all. There is an argument for looking at whether we have gone far enough today and whether in the future we could go further and build on this.