There are plenty of empty houses across Britain – but no willing buyers
SIR – The housing “shortage” periodically raises its ugly head, with the Left bleating that the Government must do more and the Right offering incentives to residential investors.
Why? There are thousands – if not millions – of empty houses across Britain. Unfortunately, most are in places where people don’t really want to live because there are so few jobs.
Rather than building over the Green Belt, wouldn’t it be better to attract people to these areas by creating tax-favoured business and industry zones? R P Gullett
Bledlow Ridge, Buckinghamshire
SIR – The answer to big developers hoarding land is simple.
A first application for planning permission should be relatively inexpensive. However, if the house is not completed in a year, permission should automatically lapse, with reapplication by the same company getting progressively more expensive.
Alternatively, after 12 months with planning permission, the land should attract council tax whether a house is built on it or not. Robert Stokes
Doncaster, South Yorkshire
SIR – Liam Halligan is right to refer to large builders squeezing out the smaller ones (Comment, March 6).
It is very difficult for the small guys to cope with expensive regulatory compliance, whereas the big guys are well-equipped to do so.
There is, however, another problem: increasing environmental demands on builders, which have affected the viability of many small projects. While environmental considerations should certainly be weighed in the balance, perhaps they weigh a little too heavily at the moment. Wanda Grenville Hill
Liss, Hampshire
SIR – There is no shortage of building land in Britain, nor of companies able to build. The problem is a market that treats an essential as a luxury. Until the inflationary bubble of accommodation prices is burst by the Government building council houses for rent below market rates, the artificial housing crisis will persist.
The stupidest thing we ever did was allow council houses to be sold. Michael Heaton
Warminster, Wiltshire
SIR – During the Today programme on Monday, there was a discussion about the difficulties faced by housebuyers.
It centred on the shortage of new-build properties, and consequent higher prices. What was not discussed was that the population of this country has increased by several million in the past decade, largely through uncontrolled immigration, creating much additional demand. Also, no one mentioned how non-residential foreign investors are buying up blocks of new-build flats for investment purposes, often keeping them empty.
These issues must be tackled. Ted Shorter
Tonbridge, Kent