Letters | 7 January 2016

A tax on empty dwellings

Sir: Both the Conservative and Labour candidates (‘Battle for London’, 2 January) rightly see housing as the big issue in London’s mayoral election this year: Ukip and the Greens would probably say the same. But if one travels along the river at night and observes the large blocks of flats that appear to be almost empty, one wonders if there really is a problem. Anecdotal evidence says that the owners are mostly Chinese (but they could be Arabs, Russians, or others based abroad), who occupy these properties for little more than a week or a month in the year. We who live in London all the time would benefit enormously if these tax-dodgers who contribute little to our society were made to pay an annual levy of five, ten or 20 times what they presumably now pay in council tax. I have even heard voters on the right argue for these properties to be compulsorily purchased.