Finefair Ltd supports investors by giving them a choice of reliable property services. This includes management, maintenance, and lettings too. One area where we excel is providing the best council leasing Barnet has to offer. It can be a really wonderful option in many situations. A lot of landlords choose it so they can enjoy guarantees on rent and a much smaller workload for managing the properties.
A rise in vacant homes
According to the latest data from Action on Empty Homes, the number of vacant homes in England is continuing to rise. Their figures show that a total of 268,385 homes in England are empty. This is a rise of an astonishing 42,600 between 2019 and 2020. It is the fourth consecutive year the number has risen. Alarmingly, this last increase was more than the previous three combined.
Surprisingly the South East was the region with the highest rise. Over the year an additional 6,266 homes in the area became vacant. London was the second worst region. Here the number of vacancies grew by 5,871. There were also big rises in the North West, East England, and the West Midlands.
High council tax
The huge number of empty properties is terrible at a time when there is a shortage of housing. Worst still, this is happening while many local councils can’t keep up with their targets for new builds.
The Government has attempted to improve the situation by introducing higher council tax charges for properties that are empty for the long term. As a result councils can charge the owners double rates if a home is vacant for between two and ten years. Next month they will be able to charge a premium up to 300%.
However, the higher council tax rates are not enough to encourage every owner to let their property. In fact, in London many of the properties that are vacant are valuable assets worth over £1million. The owners of many of these homes have funds to spare so higher council tax is not really a concern for them.
Doing more
There have been many calls to do more to encourage people to bring homes back to the market. This includes requiring people to actually live in the homes they buy to discourage investors from buying assets they will never occupy.
On top of this there have been suggestions to encourage downsizing. This could give more elderly property owners incentives to trade in their large homes for smaller ones. If successful, this could free up larger properties for families which would then allow them to move from the smaller homes they currently occupy, leaving those free for other people.
Talk to us about council leasing in Barnet
Finefair Ltd can appreciate why some property owners do keep their assets empty. They may have concerns about finding tenants, managing the properties, or the costs they can incur as a landlord. We can help them to assuage these fears. Then we can offer them solutions that they can rely on.
One thing we provide is the chance to let with local councils in London. This can be a better option than private lettings for many reasons. For example it offers guaranteed rent and shifts the responsibility for managing the property. We are proud to offer great services in this area. In fact, we arrange the best council leasing Barnet investors can ask for. Plus, we have first rate services in most other London boroughs.
If you want to find a solution for your assets, please contact us. We would be happy to provide more info and our own recommendations.
