Miliband would raise tax on “ghost homes”

9th May 2014

Ed Miliband has said that owners of empty "ghost" homes, who buy them as an investment with the effect of driving up house prices, would be hit by bigger tax penalties under a Labour Government.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Mr Miliband said he would target London's 60,000 "ghost homes" by letting councils charge double their council tax on properties left empty for more than a year. Since April last year councils have had the power to impose a 50% surcharge on properties that have been unoccupied for two years, but Labour says that while half of all 15 of London's Labour-run boroughs have introduced the empty homes premium, Conservative and Lib Dem-run councils in London had failed to use the powers at all.

Source:   Evening Standard (06/05/14)