Madrid or Barcelona are not the only major European metropolis that They look with trouble his Residential Market. In London they deal with some triggered rentals (some study place the average price in almost 40 pounds by m2), the pressure exerted by the foreign investors and tens of thousands of empty properties. Already in 2023 his mayor, Sadiq Khan, talked about “scandal” which supposes that in the British capital there were 30,000 houses and floors without use while its inhabitants faced “a housing crisis”.
To solve it, in London they have Moved file Using one of its great tools: the tax burden.
Retouching taxes. The news The newspaper progresses The Telegraph: The authorities of Wandswortha district of London, have decided to update their taxes penalizing those owners who have empty houses and apartments in their territory. To be more precise, to the municipal rates of homes that remain more than a year empty and without furnished will be applied A 100% surcharge.
The measure will be adopted from April and confirms the effort of the British authorities for taking the properties that are now unoccupied to the rent or sale market. Until now, in Wandsworth, disuse housing already faced a similar surcharge, but as long as they remained empty for more than two years, a ‘grace period’ that will now be cut in half.
More empty time, more paid. A 100% increase is considerable, but those who maintain disused properties for longer will risk much larger penalties. According to The Telepraghthe owners of houses that have been empty for five years will see how that percentage rises to 200% and in the case of the properties that are not used for a decade, it will further shoot, to 300%.
The rates will also be more burdensome for those who have second homes, furnished properties but are not used as the main home. In those cases, twice the corresponding municipal tax will be charged, although the standard contemplates Some exceptions. For example, if the owners are conditioned by their work, as is the case with the personnel of the Armed Forces or the caregivers.
What is the goal? To tackle the problems of the residential market, which in the case of Wandsworth is also found with particularly low taxes. The British press Precise That with the measure the authorities seek to penalize the abandonment of properties, encourage their owners to sell or rent empty houses and dissuade foreign investors who are made with homes they do not use.
“The objective is to ensure that the homes are inhabited or rented. Many people want to live and Wandsworth and we want to use all the powers we can to increase the number of homes in which people can reside,” Aydin Dkerdem explainsLabor councilor. In his opinion, it could even be discussed whether to double the municipal tax does not imply a fiscal burden “high enough.
Are there so unoccupied houses? In May 2023 the office of the mayor of London He spoke of around “30,000 empty homes for a long time” and required that the districts of Kensignton and Chelsea presented a particularly high concentration. Only there would be about 1,600 properties with a total value that exceeded 2.2 billion pounds. In Westminster there were around 1,100 homes with a value that, in the market two years ago, was around 1.7 billion pounds.
Is there more data? Yes. Action on empty homes assures That the total number of unoccupied housing is much higher and among them includes even social properties, “emptied real estate to allow their demolition and replacement for new houses in ‘neighborhood regeneration’ programs.
The Telegraph Precise That with the data of the 33 local authorities of the city on the table, we can speak of around 36,200 empty properties for a long time. And slide another figure to older interests: only in Wandsworth the number of second residences has increased exponentially since 2023, going from just under 600 throughout the district to touch the 1,400 today.
“It’s a scandal”. In addition to breaking up data, in mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has openly complained about the number of properties unused in a city that has seen how their rentals sneaked into the top of The rankings European prices, with clearly forecasts up.
“It is a scandal that so many houses so necessary in London are empty in the midst of a housing crisis,” regretted The councilor in 2023 before claiming specific measures and “the return of powers” so that the municipalities can act via taxes.
“Not only would it deter absent international investors, but would release homes throughout the capital for Londoners,” I cried. It’s not The first time that the local United Kingdom authorities ask for greater margin to act before empty floors. In fact, the new leveling and regeneration law allows Since 2024 Collect more taxes on unemployed house owners for more than a year.
Beyond Wandsworth … and the United Kingdom. Empty homes are not an exclusive problem of London. Action on Empy Homes estimates that in the whole of England they are counted by hundreds of thousands And not a few of them, according to the agency’s estimates, have been in that state for a long time. Hence Wandsworth has not been the only one to move.
In Cornwall They have also raised apply severe surcharges to second residences, a measure that has also been put on the table In Wales u Oxford. The newspaper Standard He quotes policies on the same line in Westminster and Hackney, which announced Just a year ago: “Any house that has remained empty for at least 12 months will be charged twice the usual tax rate.” Until then the surcharge was limited to disused houses for more than 24 months.
The United Kingdom is not the only one that has moved to loosen the tension of the residential market with the help of unemployed homes. In Brussels, with thousands of empty apartments, they have considered going beyond and ‘confiscar them’ to put them in time for rent.
Images | Benjamin Davies (UNSPLASH) and Geoff Henson (Flickr)
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