Labour’s ‘Land Grab’

A report - ‘Land for the Many’: Changing the way our fundamental asset is used, owned and governed - produced for the Labour Party sets out recommendations around an issue - land is the hidden issue behind the housing crisis - which has huge implications for people who want affordable homes. The report is not yet Labour policy. The key proposals include;

·         free and open access to data on land ownership

·         an explicit government goal to stabilise house prices

·         reforms to private renting with a cap on rent increases

·         replace council tax with a progressive property tax payable by owners not tenants – with surcharges for empty and second homes and non-UK residents

·         phase out stamp duty land tax

·         enable public bodies to buy land at closer to current use value

Read more on Red Brick.

https://redbrickblog.wordpress.com/

NHF Picks A Fight With Landowners ‘Pocketing Billions In Profit’

Landowners are pocketing billions of pounds of profit every year just for getting planning permission, which raises prices and makes it harder than ever to buy land for new social housing, according to a new report from the National Housing Federation (NHF) and the Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP). But as the NHF launches its national housing summit, the CLA says such “false claims” distort the view of how the value of land is captured. The report kickstarts the  summit with its call for a radical overhaul in land sales. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/nhf-picks-a-fight-with-landowners-pocketing-billions-in-profit/

Call To Stop UK Landowners Making Huge Profits From Speculation

Britain should limit the windfall gains of landowners by freezing the value of plots newly designated for housing, according to a thinktank urging sweeping reforms to tackle a national shortage of affordable homes. Calling on the government to pursue land market reforms similar to the German model, the Institute for Public Policy Research said planning authorities should be given new powers to zone land for development and freeze its price. It said speculation by landowners awaiting planning decisions that can trigger vast increases in the value of a plot, had the effect of exacerbating wealth inequality and was a “driving force behind the broken housing market” in Britain. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/28/call-to-stop-landowners-making-huge-profits-from-speculation

Labour Plans To Make Landowners Sell To State For Fraction Of Value

Labour is considering forcing landowners to give up sites for a fraction of their current price in an effort to slash the cost of council house building. The proposal has been drawn up by John Healey, the shadow housing secretary, and would see a Jeremy Corbyn-led government change the law so landowners would have to sell sites to the state at knockdown prices. Landowners currently sell at a price that factors in the dramatic increase in value when planning consent is granted. It means a hectare of agricultural land worth around £20,000 can sell for closer to £2m if it is zoned for housing. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/01/labour-plans-landowners-sell-state-fraction-value

Knock Down Barriers To Build More Affordable Rural Homes

The CLA which represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses told a cross-party group of MPs that landowners have the potential to inject life into rural areas by making land available to house young families, local workers and older people seeking to downsize or retire. But the organisation warned that government policies such as extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants discouraged landowners from making sites available because the homes would become unaffordable in the future. The CLA is calling for the government to encourage landowners to release land at a discount for affordable housing by exempting the value of land sold for affordable homes from Capital Gains Tax. Read more on 24housing.