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Meeting of the Parliament 06 September 2012

06 Sep 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Local Government Finance (Unoccupied Properties etc) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Boyack, Sarah Lab Lothian Watch on SPTV

No, I need to make progress.

Highland Council expressed concerns about absentee landlords, the volatility of the commercial property market and the poor condition of many empty commercial properties. It is important that local authorities’ concerns are brought to the chamber today, because nobody has yet raised those concerns.

There are also issues relating to the empty homes provisions, on which we think that more detail is needed. We support the ambition of the proposals but, as Shelter has commented, we need wider support for owners of empty properties to bring properties back into use—that is critical. Some of the measures to which the minister has referred this afternoon will be helpful and we will look at them in detail.

A key issue is the cost of implementing the bill and, if the bill is to be effective in relation to empty houses, ministerial guidance will be crucial. It is not just a question of the statutory instrument. Will the minister bring draft guidance before the Parliament? Will we see it before we debate the bill in detail at stage 2? Will we see the detail of the statutory instruments before stage 2? Without that, the debate at stage 2 will be difficult to conduct because we will not have the detail that the minister will bring forward thereafter.

Waverley Housing suggested some key measures that would help to deliver the objectives of the bill. The minister has not mentioned housing association grant funding today, which we know has been slashed in the past year. Registered social landlords will need additional support if they are to buy empty houses so that they can refurbish them and rent them out. Glasgow City Council expressed concerns about the administrative costs of implementing the empty homes proposals and argued for enforced sale procedures to enable it to buy empty properties and bring them back into use. Fife Council argued that real consideration is needed of the administration and the ability to collect the charges that will be levied. It is concerned that the charges will be difficult to collect from some owners of empty properties. Those issues will need to be addressed at stage 2.

Some questions remain outstanding even after the new comments that the minister has put on the record this afternoon.

If the Parliament is to be effective, we need more information from the minister before we launch into stage 2. There are a couple of weeks left and I hope that we will get a detailed written response to the recommendations that were made.

I reread the evidence last night and it is clear that there is support for the ambition of bringing empty properties back into use, but also that there is no agreement. In fact, there are deep worries that some of the elements of the bill will make matters worse. The lack of a BRIA has added to that concern.

At stage 2, we will attempt to amend the bill and to be constructive, as the minister has encouraged us to be. However, without detailed knowledge of the Government’s position in advance of stage 2, it is difficult for Opposition parties to come up with detailed proposals on such a short enabling bill.

Many respondents expressed their support for the principles of the bill, but the detail will be crucial. The fact that, two months after the committee reported, we do not have a response from the Government is a problem. We want to see the details. I hope that the minister will publish his response before stage 2. That would mean that we would have a meaningful debate.

This debate is an opportunity for the minister to answer more of the questions that were raised during the Conservative Party debate in June and by the three committees that have reported on the bill. I hope that he will take that opportunity in his closing speech.

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Meeting of the Parliament 06 September 2012

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