Property DOOM: Westminster council to ban supersize new homes

[AtW]

Westminster city council is to ban new supersize properties built for oligarchs and other members of the global elite in order to free up space for more affordable homes.

The council, which includes the areas of Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia, said it would restrict new homes larger than 150 sq metres (1,615 sq ft) because “Westminster’s position in the global housing market can create demand for supersize properties which underoptimise development of Westminster’s scarce land resource”.

Westminster said banning “Monopoly board-style” homes would help free up more space for affordable homes for Londoners. The ban is part of Westminster’s 2019-40 development plan released on Monday night, which also included a commitment to build more than 10,000 affordable units by 2040.

The council said 150 sq metres was 50% larger than the average private home in the borough and would “still enable generously sized homes to be developed to meet development from the prime market, but balances that against the other, more strategic housing need of the city”.

Westminster council to ban supersize new homes | Business | The Guardian

As if 150sq meter property in Westminster (Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia!) ill ever be affordable

[GreenMirror]

They need to ban foreign ownership.

[WTFH]

They need to ban foreign ownership.

Or tax it.

Tax foreign ownership, and double the tax if the property is vacant for more than 3 months of the year.

[Hobosapien]

Or tax it.

Tax foreign ownership, and double the tax if the property is vacant for more than 3 months of the year.

Or commandeer them for social housing while empty. Gets all the homeless off the streets.

Apply same to high streets where anyone can do a pop-up shop for free in an empty retail unit until the owner finds a paying tenant, that's the ghost town high street sorted too.

i.e. allow the demand to command the price, which is zero if there's no demand at the price being asked.

[Mordac]

Or tax it.

Tax foreign ownership, and double the tax if the property is vacant for more than 3 months of the year.

Yeah, get the bleedin' foreigners out...

Normally you defend immigrants, but when they're rich immigrants, you change your position and wish to punish them financially (that is to say, it would cost them more to live in Belgravia* than it would cost a British citizen). I think you have a problem with anyone who can say "I am considerably richer than you" as Harry Enfield might have put it.
Would you prefer it if we only let in poor immigrants? Less of a threat to you?

*Other hideously expensive parts of London are available.

[WTFH]

Normally you defend immigrants, but when they're rich immigrants, you change your position and wish to punish them financially (that is to say, it would cost them more to live in Belgravia* than it would cost a British citizen). I think you have a problem with anyone who can say "I am considerably richer than you" as Harry Enfield might have put it.
Would you prefer it if we only let in poor immigrants? Less of a threat to you?

Normally I defend the needy and those requiring help.

Property prices in London are prohibitively high for those who work there. How many properties in London are bought as financial investments with no intention to use them to live in (or rent out)?
How many workers in London are in social housing, or sharing rooms with their whole family?
The city bankers, etc, want to have people serving them in shops, cleaning their offices, etc, but the people who do that work need somewhere to live.

[Mordac]

Or commandeer them for social housing while empty. Gets all the homeless off the streets.

Apply same to high streets where anyone can do a pop-up shop for free in an empty retail unit until the owner finds a paying tenant, that's the ghost town high street sorted too.

i.e. allow the demand to command the price, which is zero if there's no demand at the price being asked.

Good idea, but that's down to the councils and the rates.

[Bean]

Normally I defend the needy and those requiring help.

Property prices in London are prohibitively high for those who work there. How many properties in London are bought as financial investments with no intention to use them to live in (or rent out)?

Didn't Cornwall pass laws recently due to the same problem?
It's almost as if people buy up property in the in-demand areas as an investment, in a free market capitalist society - imagine that

The city bankers, etc, want to have people serving them in shops, cleaning their offices, etc, but the people who do that work need somewhere to live.

If only there was some kind of transport system, that could let potential workers travel between their residence and their place of work.....

[Mordac]

Normally I defend the needy and those requiring help.

Property prices in London are prohibitively high for those who work there. How many properties in London are bought as financial investments with no intention to use them to live in (or rent out)?
How many workers in London are in social housing, or sharing rooms with their whole family?
The city bankers, etc, want to have people serving them in shops, cleaning their offices, etc, but the people who do that work need somewhere to live.

Not on here you don't...

[WTFH]

Not on here you don't...

You saying I should be defending those with issues on here?