J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Anyone else seen this, Labout have a new law that enables councils to seize, for seven years, unoccupied private dwellings plus the contents, no right of appeal.

Please allow a certain amount of ranting here, I have just been reading the express which does that to me, they only do stories about Naughty Labour, Asylum Seekers and Prince (shes still dead you know) Diana, however, even allowing for the Express's middle class right wing nimby righteousness the bare facts still are a bit hard to take in.

I can sort of see the sentiment, i.e. hosuing shortage so dont waste empty properties, problem being that they seize it and you have no choice, it only has to stand empty for six months before becoming eligible ! Perhaps some kind of voluntary system that keeps the property maintained and removes any tax liability and then returns you the property, intact after the lease expires, but no they steal it and I would imagine you get it back stripped of possessions and with a minimum of seven years 'use', be that normal use or the use of several crack heads with IBS or perhaps (and the Express would love this) a suicide Bomb factory !

Say you have a career break to travel the world like my brother did, he had a mate in his but he didnt answer the door lightly so that would have been seized and turned into a DSS palace !

Unclebuck/PSL, the floor is yours, play nice.

SD

Any linkage?

Diablo

If thats true, its a ******* outrage, and in violation of God knows how many other pieces of human rights legislation.

There must be more to it than that.

OllyK

I heard about this time back. It's not dissimilar to their ability to clear out any bank accounts you have if you don't use them for a couple of years - nothing like encouraging people to save

Tim-Grove

There’s a 4 bedroomed detached house 2 doors up from me which has been empty for about 6 months.

Wonder if they're gona fill it with dole dossers

warrenm2

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3732005.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4364184.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5090612.stm

HTH!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

'There’s a 4 bedroomed detached house 2 doors up from me which has been empty for about 6 months.

Wonder if they're gona fill it with dole dossers'

Yep, you go for it mate !

lightning101

OllyK

So you own a house in need of rennovation, the council spend £30K doing it up, rent it out at £25 per week for the next 5 years and then pass you a bill for the deficit and you get to clean the **** off the walls and try and get the smell of cat **** out of the floor boards?

lightning101

They are talking about derelict buildings that are uninhabitable and attract vandals and drug users according to the BBC report, so whatever state you got it back in after a few years (councils use better quality building materials than new build developers), plus the rising costs of the area, you can't lose, even if you have to get rid of the smell of **** and ****.

OllyK

I read:
Empty does not mean uninhabitable. If they do mean derelict then fine, but I can see it wandering from that.

lightning101

The worrying one is if you buy a new property, pay for it and while waiting to sell your original property you exceed the guidlines for having an empty property

OllyK

And as covered in the artilce - following a brievement while the paperwork is all being sorted you could suddenly find a load of chavs in your parents house for 7 years and have no way to appeal. Add to that you may well lose any and all property that was in the house as well and I'd be seriously miffed.

amazinggrace

Explain please, do you think all crack heads have IBS or that people with IBS are crack heads?

brumdaisy

Calm down LOL

Look, the idea behind it is to rid otherwise 'decent' streets of abandoned houses where the owner is untraceable and/or not prepared to be responsible for maintaining the property to a decent standard whilst at the same time putting the property back into economic use.

This started a few years ago in Birmingham and I worked on the programme involved so no, Im not quoting anything you'll find on google - its all my own words but I do know what Im talking about! (for once ).

Yes the process can start as early as six months after the abandonment is reported but think about how long it can take for abandonment to be reported to the council - usually years! And it is only the beginning of a process that starts with attempting to trace the legal owner.

It is only if negotiations with the owner -which are allowed to go on for far too long in my opinion, or it proves impossible to trace the owners - that the council may seek to gain posession of the property.

And by the way, all this only came about as a direct result of the impact that derelict property has on a local economy i.e. house prices!!!!

If you're still panicking that your delightful semi-rural detached villa with swimming pool is suddenly going to invaded with a bunch of eastern european gypos, relax its the 'deprived but improving' areas that are the primary target.

HTH

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Amazing Grace, the point being that a Crack Head is bad enough but one with bowel trouble could be worse, went through a spate of what was diagnosed as IBS hence the comment, ok now for the time being !

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Brumdaisy, thanks for the voice of reason, snapped me out of my righteous indignation, Daily Express induced trance !

amazinggrace

You may have guessed from my post but I have IBS (I ain't a crack head, other people may say different tho)

Glad your IBS is ok for now, whats the secret? I've had 6 years of this s&%t now

Leslie

It was reported yesterday that a woman whose mother died and left a bungalow in good condition has already had the council on her back over their ability to take it over six months after probate. So the business about derelict houses etc is all smoke and mirrors as ever with these loonies. I see that the council is also entitled to confiscate fixtures and fittings and even any heirlooms associated with the property. I think the whole thing is shameful and an indication of the true ambitions of this control freakish and repressive government.

I see that the head of the government and his senior ministers are exempt from this empowerment to councils. Anyone read Animal Farm yet?

I wonder if PSL has the botlle to explain all this to us!

Les