To think I found a solution to the London property crisis?

[Toriali]

AIBU to think the London property crisis could be resolved if we'd convert the oversupply of luxury flats into social housing or lower the price so that first time buyers can purchase them?

London's councils will hopefully rehouse all the families living in sub standard and hazardous tower blocks.

Why not make a few luxury apartments available for low income families? Or offer them to first time buyers at a more reasonable price?

This got me thinking... luxury flat developers turn to discounts as London sales slow

Looks like there's going to be a lot of empty apartments. What the heck are we going to do with them? AIBU?

greenhills you would have people buying homes in names of a company.

mummymeister I see you a bus once a week you have to phone the day before for it to turn up!!!

But we can get a train to London a couple of times a day lol

greenhills they would divorce on paper only.

Similar thing was done with new build flats in Glasgow/Edinburgh after last crash. Can't remember if the council bought them or just rented them en masse though. The disparity in pricing is a bit less in Scotland though.

There was a scandal about some private new build flats down by the river in Glasgow only being built to have a shelf life of 25 years- there was an investigative documentary about it. The consequence was that no-one would buy them. So they moved tenants in, I think through the council.

London will end up as a city of mothballed empty homes at the top end & crowded immigrants at the bottom. Something has to give. Nurses, firefighters & police officers can now barely afford to rent in the capital. I favour rent freezes & a punitive tax on those who buy properties & leave them vacant, combined with a house building scheme on the outskirts. I don't think big shocks are a good idea; tapered, long term solutions are much better.

There must surely be a way to stop landbanking... eg penalties or forfeits for developers sitting on brownfield sites.

I also have think that the stamp duty increase on second properties is badly thought out as it penalises the private landlords and pushes up rents. I would be in favour of no council tax rebates for second homes as the money would go onto the local economy.

private landlords and their ability to manage and maintain property needs to be addressed. illegal suites need to be exactly that illegal.
i'm not even sure I like the idea of private landlords not being proper companies (minimum staff and specific service requirements)

the magic money tree

When the banks came with their bowls we helped them out didn't we?

Apparently there is a money tree for them, just not for the poor, elderly, sick or disabled.

There are, of course, affordable units in nigh on about major development as part of the conditions of planning permission.

You are asking for something that already exists, in the sense that those units are there. Are you saying that there should be even more conditions on planning permission and more units should be granted? I was just wondering at what point it becomes too onerous - hpgivrn that planning permission often also includes other community works too.

"When the banks came with their bowls we helped them out didn't we?"

Yes, New Labour did. But the alternative was the banks going bust. And that means everyone going bust, whether rich or poor, elderly or youthful, sick or well, disabled or not.

I fear improving transport elsewhere is of zero help. Look at the racial profile of those killed in Grenfell. They don't come to London because they want to visit Bucks Palace on the weekend. They come because they believe it's where the jobs are and where people of similar ethnicity have come.

When I worked in South London, there was a large Colombian community, more arriving weekly. Like attracts like. The capital is possibly the one city they've heard of and where their uncle/brother/mate lives.

viking, I wonder what the alternative will be to us not sorting out this housing shortfall. Maybe not so fast as banking crisis but it is well on the way to causing massive problems in our society which need to be sorted.

Stop non residents buying properties as investments. Seize or stop purchases where there is evidence of money laundering. All new builds should be forced to either have a proportion as social housing - no share to buy at £500K plus.

I work in the public sector - many of my colleagues commute from outside London. If jobs move outside London and the job holders live in social housing it is preferable for them to find another job or go onto benefits.

the area i live in is very multicultural too Siwdmae, There are lots of Africans, Eastern Europeans and we have a long standing large muslim community i live in Greater Manchester so its not all about London at all.

Some posters said that 'this isn't how economics work'.

That argument puts an end to the discussion and shut me up for a while...but -even though I'm a staunch capitalist- I think some economics may be broken.

So here: the housing market economics are broken and need fixing for the greater good of all, including your own kids...

And another thing: I know there are already mixed developments inside all luxury settlements, but surely they aren't enough? There's not enough flats available for first time buyers and not enough social housing, but a 'glut' of empty luxury flat pouring into the market...

And I also agree with someone upthread who said that those families need more suppor, and I could also imagine the luxury block not being looked after by its residents but couldn't there be conditions of living there? Don't we really have enough people to make this happen?

Lastly, I don't think it would be cheaper/better to invest into existing council estates. From where I'm sitting I can't see any quality building and environment there that could be anyhow improved. While I'm at it lat me say that those areas should be turned into parks.

A friend who works for a developer once told me that they had instructions to design "2 bed flats" and "to plan families out". And they managed...look at all the young professional families leaving London.

We love in west london and on our street on the river there was a estate which was emptied 4 ish years ago and is still sat there derelict !
3 minutes away from imperial wharf river apartments.
They were borded up due to them being classed as 2 small to live in although bigger than my flat.
Still nothing done to them just sat there although now been announced work will be started to make yet another lot of riverside luxery apartments.

Stop non residents buying properties as investments

Ok, but many student lets, family homes, working people etc rent properties from small private landlords. Why shouldn't an individual buy/rent out a property if that's what they want to do? The problem is people buying whole blocks as an investment, with no intention of letting.

I would propose an incentive scheme for investment into social housing, or penalties for keeping properties empty.

My friend was in a private rental in one of the 'luxury blocks' mentioned in Edinburgh. There were indeed empty, unsold units which the council took over and rented to social tenants.

The tenants illegally sublet the flats and the block became blighted with problems such as overcrowding, noise pollution and dumping of rubbish in the communal stair.

My friend and his partner are kind, intelligent and socially aware people, who want to see an end to inequality. But they would never move into mixed housing again because of that experience and I have heard others say similar.

I know this won't go over well but it's what people in the real world think.

I just need to rant a minute.

A poster mentioned the unfairness of the average person being unable to put down roots and buy property in the city they were raised in.

I live ruraly and we have the exact same thing is happening in the villages for miles around here. My children don't have a hope in hell of affording anything within a hundred miles of where we live, or afford the extortionate private rental charges.

A different poster mentioned the importance of building more housing outside London in pockets of green land ...

Guess what?! Despite the fact that most of our children are having to move miles away when they want to leave home huge, sections of the local community campaign fiercely against any affordable homes being proposed nearby! The fucking Nimbys are up in arms here in our village at the moment about a proposed development locally. The thinly disguised main objection is because it will be visible from here. Shock bloody horror. Their latest best argument, and the top one on all the leaflets is that the extra housing is ''Not necessary''. Good god.

Your solution isn't really very well thought out, stands little chance of achieving anything very much and would be incredibly expensive.

OP: Are you Jeremy Corbyn? If we're doing policy review for you I think some payment would be in order. I don't mean a weird hug thanks

Not giving tax breaks and incentives to building companies who put up blocks then sell the flats exclusively to overseas buyers would be a start.

Imbroglio students (unless already rich) and normal working people cannot afford to rent these investment properties. Why should non residents and non doms profit while UK people are forced into sub standard accommodation due to cost. Just sheer greed.

Is also like to correct the assumption that most developments in London have a social element. Unfortunately the share to buy part ownership is out of reach of most people in London. There are very few or no new housing for social rent.

But the alternative was the banks going bust. And that means everyone going bust, whether rich or poor, elderly or youthful, sick or well, disabled or not.

You are missing the point. Of course we could not let the banks go bust. We as a society came together to help them - to our mutual benefit.

The other essential part of this contract is that when the poor, sick, elderly and disabled need help likewise, society - all of society - pitches in. Just as we all did for the finance industry.

You cannot have one without the other. Society weakens.