My Lords, this group of amendments is important as it directly relates to one of the housing missions. This mission states that more first-time homebuyers will be created in all areas and the number of non-decent rented homes will be reduced by 50%. I agree that good quality housing is the cornerstone of levelling up.
We are in a severe housing crisis, with a lack of supply of affordable homes for young people and little opportunity for families to get on to the property ladder. We therefore must make the best use we can of the properties we already have and maximise opportunities for everybody in every part of the country. There are large numbers of long-term empty houses. The Bill as it stands will not give local authorities sufficient tools to start to get a grip on the situation, so despite the Government saying they want to act, this is a missed opportunity. We have tabled amendments on both long-term empty dwellings and short-term empty lets to see what we can do to help the situation.
My Amendment 166 asks the Secretary of State to publish an annual estimate of exactly how many long-term empty dwellings exist. If we are serious about tackling the issue, we need fully to understand the extent of the problem and which areas are particularly affected.
There are a number of other amendments in my name, and in the names of my noble friends Lady Taylor of Stevenage and Lord Blunkett. My noble friend Lady Taylor has tabled an amendment to increase the maximum premium chargeable on second homes from 100% to 300%. This is a probing amendment to look at where the figure should be set.
My Amendment 171 would allow the Secretary of State to give CCAs the power to restrict short-term holiday lets, and my Amendment 442 probes the question whether local authorities may request that the Secretary of State limit the number of short-term lets in their area. My noble friend Lord Blunkett’s Amendment 172A would ensure that:
“No change in existing council tax levy can be introduced without an independent economic evaluation”.
Clearly, there are complexities relating to second and unused homes. We believe that local authorities need more flexibility over council tax premiums. Surely, it must be for local authorities to decide whether or not they will charge premiums and how much these should be, depending on their local circumstances. This has been a difficult issue for local government, particularly in coastal and rural areas such as Cumbria, where I live. Locals are often priced out of the market as houses are increasingly being turned over to Airbnb or continue to be marketed as second homes. This is putting even more pressure on the housing situation. Communities can be completely hollowed out when this happens. There are villages near where I live in which the majority of houses are second homes or holiday lets. This hollows out local services and infrastructure. We lose bus services, the local school, shops and pubs, all of which are threatened when the number of people living permanently in the community diminishes.
We believe that this Bill is an opportunity to create some innovative solutions, both through the financial regime and the planning system. At the same time, we need to be aware of any unintended consequences. Loopholes exist through which properties can be pushed into the business rates category, thereby avoiding council tax. This happens too often, and we need to ensure that these loopholes are closed.
My Amendment 445 would allow regulations to be introduced to license short-term rental properties. The Labour Party believes that one way to tackle the challenge of second homes in coastal and rural areas is to introduce a licensing system that identifies genuine holiday lets, as opposed to second homes whose owners leave properties empty while pretending to rent them out to holidaymakers.
The Labour Government in Wales are planning to introduce a similar scheme, which would also allow councils to set a limit on the number of second homes. I ask the Minister whether the Government will take account of what is happening in Wales and use it to inform decision-making in England.
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My amendment also highlights that some properties are occupied on only a part-time basis; they are let as short-term holiday lets from time to time, perhaps not consistently, or they may be empty for a period and utilised some of the time. The challenge is that this removes opportunities for people who desperately want to buy their own home. This is important, because empty homes, especially if there has been a period of bad weather, which we often have in Cumbria, have an impact on neighbouring properties: gardens become unwieldy and overgrown very quickly, in a matter of months, which can impact on the morale of the neighbourhood and on local house prices. Neglected properties can spread damp to each other, which must be a great concern for the next-door neighbours.
Amendment 168, in the name of my noble friend Lady Taylor of Stevenage, and Amendment 168A, in the name of my noble friend Lord Berkeley, are to do with the lead-in period in the Bill. Amendment 168 would remove the one-year lead-in period and Amendment 168A would change it to nine months. Councils and the Local Government Association have told us that they would want to use this clause at the earliest opportunity. As the Bill currently stands, the Government would have to give a financial year’s notice after the Bill becomes law. If the Bill is not law by 1 April 2023, the earliest the premium could be applied is 1 April 2025. I am sure that is not the Government’s wish, so can the Minister take this back to the department and see if it can be speeded up?
My Amendment 170 would extend the time that people have to make arrangements for their property following a bereavement. This is a particularly difficult time for many. I have been talking about the categorisation of houses and whether they are occupied, but there may be specific reasons why a dwelling is empty. My Amendment 170 would bring compassion to decision-making. It recognises that, when a family has had a bereavement—for example, a parent, but it could be a child or other relative—part of the grieving process is sorting out the house and deciding what to do with it, and whether to sell or to keep it. Homes can hold many memories and it can take time, especially if people live a distance away or have work or caring responsibilities. I am sure that we can all relate to such circumstances; in fact, me and my family and going through this right now. Allowing time for this is important. My amendment suggests two years to enable the process to be done with dignity and without extra pressures on the family. I ask the Minister to consider this very seriously.
The noble Lord, Lord Foster, has a number of amendments—Amendments 228, 263, 264 and 265—on second homes and new classes for holiday rentals. We support these measures. They would give local authorities greater powers to shape local housing markets and strengthen local oversight of changes in accommodation in an area. But we also believe that the Government should be making the tools that exist and are available now much easier to use in the first place.
I am thinking particularly of empty dwelling management orders, which basically allow local authorities to requisition an empty home and turn it into a social
rented property. These orders are very valuable because they mean property can be brought back into usage, in effect becoming a social rented property under the control of the local authority for a period of seven years. They are most useful because they act as a warning shot to other landlords, and show what might happen to them if they do not make good use of their properties. The problem here, though, is that the process is lengthy, laborious, expensive and difficult. Will the Minister look carefully at beefing up the existing provisions by ensuring councils can use them more readily, and therefore bring more homes back into use?
Finally, I will comment on Amendment 294, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, which seeks to introduce a new use of dwelling-houses, enabling local authorities to maintain the stock of long-term rental properties in an area. We support the noble Lord’s amendment. The CPRE has done research highlighting the surge in the number of homes marketed for Airbnb-style short lets; I have mentioned that previously. When you combine that with the steep decline in the number of new social housing products, it really is adding to a worsening housing crisis. In areas such as mine, you can really see that it is having a huge knock-on effect for rental properties available for businesses wanting to set up in the area, which then struggle to find accommodation for their workers. We know that the Government want to introduce a registration scheme, and this may well be a good step, but we need to see stronger controls and better use of the planning system, so that local priorities are put first and foremost.
I look forward to hearing the debate and to the Minister’s response. I beg to move.