Clause 3 - Local housing authorities to review housing conditions in their districts
Housing Bill
4:45 pm
Sir Sydney Chapman (Chipping Barnet, Conservative)
The hon. Gentleman said that he had done an analysis of empty properties in his constituency. He was, of course, referring to the empty properties in the private sector. I should be interested to know two things. First, did he speak only to private landlords about properties that were not let for one reason or another, or did he extend his net to include private properties that had never been let but just happened to be empty for some reason? I take an amateur's interest in the subject, but the central point that I have come to is that there are a number of reasons why private properties are empty. It may be the death of the owner, a problem with the estate, or the need to refurbish the property significantly—I need not list all the reasons. I am interested to know how wide the hon. Gentleman proposes to cast his net in dealing with the real problem of empty properties in the private as well as public sector.