The council linked to the Grenfell Tower disaster has asked for new powers to seize empty properties owned by millionaires, wealthy oligarchs and foreign royalty to use for social housing.
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council (RBKC), proposed a drastic overhaul of rules for acquiring unused properties in a letter to the government.
Kim Taylor-Smith, deputy leader of Conservative-led RBKC wrote a letter to housing minister Kit Malthouse requesting the authority be given the powers to seize empty stock in the borough and use it for social tenants.
Mr Taylor-Smith said in his letter the growing demands for social housing in the west London borough had been 'framed by the Grenfell tragedy', which led to the deaths of 72 people and left hundreds of council tenants homeless in June 2017.
The former Brompton Road Underground station, previously owned by the MoD, was sold for £53m and has been left vacant since 2014 when Ukrainian oligarch, Dmytro Firtash, bought the distinctive building
The Boltons, Kensington and Chelsea
Owners of the 1,652 properties listed as unoccupied by RBKC council include a Ukrainian billionaire fighting extradition to the US, a former mayor of New York, a high-profile luxury property developer and a senior television executive.
The plea echoes the calls made by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who demanded homes left vacant by rich overseas investors be 'requisitioned' for survivors left homeless by the fire.
The day after the Grenfell disaster the Labour leader described the borough as 'a tale of two cities' with vast well sitting next to areas of extreme poverty and that the devastating blaze represents 'everything that is unequal and wrong about this country'.
Some the lavish unoccupied properties are just a few hundred yards from the remains of Grenfell Tower.
Duke Lodge building which property developer Christian Candy plans to build a £300 million apartment block
A computer generated image of £300 million apartment block with 26 homes in the 1930s mansion currently valued at £85m
These include Ukrainian oligarch, Dmytro Firtash, who owns the former Brompton Road tube station building, once used as a top secret command centre for Winston Churchill during WWII, but which has been vacant since it was bought for £53m in 2014.
Former New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg's seven bedroom grade II-listed mansion he bought for £16m in 2015 is also said to be on the authority's list.
Luxary property tycoon Christian Candy's apartment block appeared on a list of vacant properties on Kensington and Chelsea council
Other unoccupied buildings include Dukes Lodge, which is listed as owning 26 homes in a 1930s mansion block valued at £85m in 2015.
The building is owned by offshore companies that make up part of Christian Candy’s vast luxury property business.
Another on the list is Smech Properties Ltd, owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates.
Peter Fincham, the former director of ITV television and controller of BBC1, said a £6m property he owns was in the process of being transferred to a new owner and was being redeveloped.
The list of names were revealed when the details were accidentally sent by the council to multiple organisations, including the Guardian newspaper, and details the confidential council tax information of the property owners.
Kensington and Chelsea borough was said to have a 'huge buy-to-leave investment market', meaning properties are bought and left empty, often to accrue value.
The Grenfall Tower tragedy 'framed' the growing demand for social housing in the west London borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Mr Taylor-Smith said 621 properties in the area have been empty and unfurnished for more than two years, 347 of which are 'amongst some of the most expensive in the borough', including one worth almost £30 million.
His letter added: 'At the same time, many residents are desperate for a place of their own, but cannot afford to rent or buy in the borough in which they were born, live and work.
'This disparity does not sit easily with the council's leadership team.'
An Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO) is required for a local authority to temporarily seize properties and offer them to social tenants, but Mr Taylor-Smith described it as 'cumbersome, slow and expensive, making its use prohibitive'.
The use of EDMOs was restricted in 2012 by then communities secretary Eric Pickles, limiting them to empty properties that have become 'magnets for vandalism, squatters and other forms of anti-social behaviour' and had been empty for two years, according to a House of Commons Library briefing paper.
But Mr Taylor-Smith claimed the prerequisite for a council to demonstrate vandalism had curtailed the use of EDMOs.
Properties owned by UAE Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (left), and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg were listed in a council document of vacant properties that could be temporarily seized if the council gets new powers
'We believe that the burdens can be lightened and EDMOs financially incentivised such that it is easier, quicker and financially viable to target all empty properties that could and should be put to use to alleviate pressing housing needs,' he wrote.
His proposal suggested offering a 'favourable tax scheme' on rent income for owners of property if they agree to offer the premises to the local authority.
'Owners should not lose out. We want to collaborate with, not clobber, the property investor,' Mr Taylor-Smith wrote.
The letter also requested that councils be able to levy a management fee to help cover the costs of taking over the homes.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for multi-million pound properties to be seized the day after the Grenfell tragedy
RBKC owned Grenfell Tower and faced criticism after the fire amid accusations that it and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which ran the block, ignored repeated safety warnings from residents.
The length of time taken to rehouse survivors following the disaster was also condemned, with dozens forced to spend months in hotels.
In response, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said there were no plans to change the system.
A spokeswoman said: 'Local authorities have a range of powers at their disposal to tackle long-term empty homes, and we expect them to use these to best address the needs of their residents.
'We have no plans to change the existing laws in this area, but are clear that all councils have a duty to provide affordable homes.'
Mr Corbyn said in June on the first anniversary of the tragedy: 'A year on I would have thought everybody who was affected by Grenfell would have been rehoused.
'Everybody who had an issue about permanent residency in Britain despite suffering in this fire would have been sorted and been allowed to permanently remain.
'That they would have been rehoused in this area within this community.'
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/category/the-sun-world/https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/grenfells-tory-council-echoes-corbyn-as-it-demands-powers-to-seize-empty-multi-million-pound-homes/
News Pictures Grenfell's Tory council echoes Corbyn as it demands powers to SEIZE empty multi-million pound homes
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