'Poor business decisions' by landlords lead to empty homes
Published: 25-Feb-2008
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The government has been urged to tackle the problem of empty homes by withdrawing certain financial incentives for landlords.
David Ireland, chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency, maintained that many properties were left empty due to "poor business decisions" made by landlords.
He said that some landlords let their property fall into such a state of disrepair that they are unable to rent it out and subsequently cannot afford the refurbishment bill.
Mr Ireland went on to say that there were "perverse financial incentives" which served to encourage landlords to leave certain properties unoccupied.
He commented: "At the moment somebody who leaves a property empty, in most parts of the country, will actually get an exemption from council tax for the first year it's empty - and after that a 50 per cent discount.
"That doesn't encourage them to bring the property back into use."
He also noted that there was VAT on the cost of repairing empty properties.
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