To stop the potential rise of investors buying homes and then leaving them empty for a considerable length of time, Islington Council is seriously considering the introduction of fines upon the owners.

Owners and landlords that buy new build homes who do not rent out or live in them could face a massive fine of up £60,000. This is part of a concerted strategy that could be adopted across the whole of the London to significantly decrease the number of empty homes.

The Council  has some disturbing facts to back up their intended action as they have disclosed that nearly half the number of new build homes in recent developments within EC1, are left empty and have no resident on the Electoral Role. This is starting to become common practice across major new developments in Central London.

The two major concerns of the council are:

• Any new homes that have come onto the market and stay empty are wasting  opportunities to try to combat their fight against the dwindling supply of residential properties within their boundaries.

 

• A large percentage of new build homes are being snapped up by overseas investors and the longer they remain empty will of course increase house prices with less and less people unable to buy them.

They are holding consultations on a new discussion paper that they have just issued aptly titled "Preventing Wasted Housing Supply". 

 

In this document they have announced new measures that they feel could lessen the buy-to-leave problem:

Levying fines on owners that have new homes left unoccupied, the money accrued would then be used to help fund living accommodation that would be more affordable.

Making owners of new homes responsible for proving that the properties are occupied.

Finding out how much the impact of overseas marketing campaigns has upon the availability of affordable housing and whether they should restrict the marketing of new homes to being just local.

Cllr James Murray, Islington Council's executive member for housing and development, said: "In Islington, as across London, it's harder and harder for people to find somewhere they can afford to live. At the same time, expensive new housing is being built, often sold off-plan overseas, and then left to stand empty.

"It's galling for Londoners to see homes being sold overseas before they’re even built –  and it's outrageous for new homes to then stand empty in the middle of a housing crisis.

"In Islington we desperately need more affordable housing, and every new home should help meet our housing shortage. We cannot stand by as new homes sit there as empty, purely as investments, and so we are setting out our plans to end this."

 

The council is encouraging as much input as possible with its consultations on the paper which closes on the 14th April.

They hastened to add that existing homes would not be affected by any new measures that may be introduced.