Empty Houses

HC Deb 20 June 1973 vol 858 cc667-8

15. Mr. Evelyn King

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will request the London local authorities to provide him with statistics showing what proportion of the 99,000 houses standing empty in London is owned by them and the period of time for which they have been empty.

Mr. Eyre

No, Sir. The figure quoted comes from the 1971 Census County Report for London and cannot be broken down to supply the information requested. A recent survey by the London Housing Office showed that only a small proportion of local authority dwellings are vacant at any one time.

Mr. King

Will my hon. Friend try to give the House some figures? Is he aware that the figures that have been quoted in official reports are appalling? Is he aware that it is said that some of these houses have been empty for five or six years, and that local authorities in London bear a heavy responsibility for this? It is at least his function—I do not attribute blame—to give us the right figures and supply the information that we need, because it is only if we have the information that we can bring pressure to bear, as we all wish to.

Mr. Eyre

The recent survey to which I referred showed that most boroughs had only 200 to 300 council dwellings empty at any one moment, and usually far fewer. These properties were usually vacant for good reasons, such as repair, improvement or re-allocation.

Mr. Molloy

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there is a lot of empty property in London, but not for the reasons that he has given'? Is he aware that this property is empty because it is too expensive for anyone to rent or buy? Does he agree that in view of the massive homelessness in London this is a ridiculous situation? Will he help local authorities compulsorily to purchase buildings such as Centre Point, which could be converted into homes for the homeless as an interim measure?

Mr. Eyre

In the recent discussions with London local authorities my right hon. and learned Friend made it clear that he would consider the possibility of using compulsory purchase orders where owners were blatantly disregarding the obligation to bring their housing into use. There is another point. In the recent White Paper it was made clear that further encouragement would be given to making use of empty houses, because the local authority would be given discretion to rate such properties 100 per cent. instead of 50 per cent., as at present.