They own land! Give them money!

Spotted by Bob E at Inside Housing:

Ealing Council in London has offered the owners of empty homes £30,000 to make their properties suitable to rent.

The new empty property grant scheme has been designed to reduce the west London borough’s housing shortage. In return for the grants, owners must commit to letting their properties at an affordable rent for a minimum of five years.(1)

Under the scheme, owners can apply for a grant for up to 100 per cent of the cost of repairs – to a maximum of £30,000 – as long as the houses have been empty for more than six months.(2) The property must be ready to be occupied within 12 months of the grant being approved.(3)

The council will also offer grants of up to £25,000 for homeowners that allow their properties to be managed by a registered social landlord for five years.(4)

The overhauled empty homes grant scheme will also include the introduction of a free ‘matchmaking’ service to connect owners of empty homes in disrepair with people who want to buy and renovate them.

Hitesh Tailor, cabinet member for housing at Ealing, said:

"With a severe shortage of affordable housing available,(5) we need to do everything we can to bring empty properties back into use for those most in need of a home. By helping good landlords (6) to bring their properties up to scratch we are also dealing with problems such as anti-social behaviour or crime which can result from homes being left empty for long periods."(7)

1) So you can collect Housing Benefit for five years, topped up with the £30,000 gift and after five years revert to letting privately.

2) So if you want a house doing up for free, just wait until your tenants move out and then leave it empty for 6 months.

3) No pressure there, then.

4) The RSL does the work for you and gives you £25,000..? Don't letting agents normally work the other way round?

5) Which this policy will exacerbate.

6) Leaving a perfectly good home in a high-rent area empty and allowing it to fall into disrepair is the sign of a "good landlord"..?

7) Or is this the sign of a bad landlord?

I just wonder, will they extend this scheme to cars with no MOT or insurance left at the side of the road - after six months they will repair and insure it for you and give you it back? Cars are depreciating assets and cars and fuel are very heavily taxed, but we still look after our cars and we pay the Road Tax because we don't want them crushed. How about applying the same logic to housing?

In summary, this policy is precisely the opposite of Land Value Tax and will have precisely the opposite effect. If you want those homes brought back into use, slap them with LVT, that way nobody will be able to afford to leave homes standing empty, and as LVT is a fixed cost, it is no disincetive to getting the place made habitable. And the landlord doesn't really pay for the cost of improvements anyway, that comes out of the rent - the tenants are paying for it.