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Housing (Empty Dwelling Management Orders) (Prescribed Exceptions and Requirements) (England) Order 2006

My Lords, I particularly welcome these orders. All my life I have campaigned on empty properties. I can remember my early days in Southampton and the problems of road blight and desperate people—particularly in those days because squatting was a problem and if homes were empty you got squatters. Throughout my political career I have been involved with housing and the problems of finding enough homes for people. I have always wanted to find a way to help local authorities deal with these properties in a fair manner. During the passage of the Housing Act I think the Conservatives were much more supportive of the measure than they appear to be at the moment. At that time we discussed some of the issues that were raised today, particularly the issues surrounding probate. There are allowances for that. Nobody who supports this measure wants to act in a heavy handed way; the whole point is to deal with it as a real issue. Not only do empty properties make the environment look awful but they also attract crime, although we do not have quite the same problem with squatters as we used to have. Local people are always asking for something to be done about empty properties and these measures will give local authorities the tools to do it. We know that these properties can be properly managed because, even without these orders, many such properties have been dealt with by persuading their owners to improve them. While many empty properties are not owned by landlords, the proprietors may not know how to deal with them. This order will enable them to work with local authorities in bringing the properties up to a good condition to be used as homes. By golly, we need homes in this country because we have not kept up with housing provision. In the days when I started campaigning on this matter we were building many more homes than we are today. The orders will also enable owners to get some income from their property, which can be very helpful particularly for older people who have been left property and have no idea how to deal with it. I am disappointed that it has taken so long to introduce the order. As a member of the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee, I waxed lyrical about how pleased I was to see the order but it has taken a long time to introduce it. While I do not think it is the only reason, the delay is partly because a lot of time, energy and consultation has been put into trying to deal with many of the points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham. However, most of these issues were raised during the passage of the Housing Bill. I should have declared an interest when I began speaking because I am patron of the Empty Homes Agency. It is an issue I care about. This morning I listened to a report about a sustainability task force that the Government have set up. It was about how we can all think about sustainability in our lives and if ever there was an issue concerning sustainability, this is it. We are building far too many new houses that use all sorts of new resources, while empty properties do not require the same amount of resources to bring them up to a good standard for people to live in. When I hear the phrase, ““Vote blue, get green””, I have to say that I am not entirely convinced. I agree with my noble friend that monitoring is important. Despite my enthusiasm for this matter, I recognise that people such as the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, are worried about it. It is important for them that this is properly monitored. My plea to the Government is that it would be better if they reduced VAT on improvements to homes. In that way we would get much better value for money from the properties we want to deal with.