My Lords, perhaps I ought to start by saying that I am also not a vice-president of the LGA, seeing as other noble Lords seem to have made that clear. This has been a very good debate with a lot of speakers, and I thank all noble Lords who have taken part. One of the things that has come across is the significant recent increase in short-term lets and the fact that something does need to be done around this.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, for his support, his amendments and his speech. He made the very important point that a registration scheme is a good first step, but we do need to make faster progress on this. As he said, a consultation to get a better balance between first homes and second homes would be a very good start. I also congratulate him on his small victory, which the Minister just announced. The noble Lord, Lord Foster of Bath, made the important point of the significant impact on prices and affordability of more homes going to short-term let, and the fact that the Bill does not go far enough as it stands, as far as we are concerned. Again, I thank him for his support for our amendments.
I would also like to thank my noble friend Lord Blunkett for his support for my Amendment 170 regarding bereavement. And, while I am on Amendment 170, I am really pleased that the Minister said that there is going to be further opportunity to look at this, and perhaps some consultation. I would be really pleased to be kept informed of any developments on this area, but it is very good that people are listening and taking account of this particular consideration.
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My noble friend Lord Blunkett made an important point that there needs to be an economic and social impact assessment, and that it needs to be made by people who know what they are doing in this area. The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, referenced
examples of where empty buildings are being brought back into use as homes. She is absolutely right to make that point—we need to look at where good practice is happening around the country and see how we can then spread that into other areas. The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, talked about saturation areas, but they can be very difficult to enforce. Perhaps the Government could look at how to make this option more accessible to local authorities and consider the noble Lord’s suggestion further.
The noble Earl, Lord Lytton, was right to say that all that happens with an empty property is that it deteriorates. That is, of course, one of the problems. I thank him for supporting my Amendment 166. He also made the valid point that this is about understanding not just where the empty properties are but why they are empty. The noble Lord, Lord Mann, talked about what can happen when properties are not properly looked after and gave a dreadful example.
On Amendment 167, the Minister referenced stamp duty as something the Government are already doing, but it does not go to local authorities—it goes to the Treasury. I thought I would just make that point. On Amendment 168, I understand her point about an inappropriate time for councils to inform owners of any increase in council tax, but we still think that one year is quite a long time.
I am very glad that, in winding up, the Minister mentioned that the Government appreciate the impact on communities of large numbers of short-term lets and second homes. At the moment, I feel that if something does not happen quite drastically, this is only going to increase. The reasons why we should deal with this were mentioned during the debate. For example, you can get more rent—it is quite simply a matter of sums. So we need to do more.
I thank the Minister. She gave a very thorough response, which is much appreciated. In the meantime, I beg leave to withdraw.