Are empty homes bad for a city?
Some people think so, and in parts of London they’ve decided to heavily tax owners of empty property:
Camden council, a Labour-run authority in north London, which covers Primrose Hill, wants to charge owners of homes that have been empty for more than two years double the normal council tax in a bid to return vacant properties to use.
The scheme has already had some impact, with owners of empty properties being charged 50 per cent extra, but the council has now suggested a further increase could bring back almost 200 homes to use. Since the council introduced a 50 per cent extra charge last year, the number of long term empty houses has fallen from 248 to 162.
Read the full article over at the Telegraph.
