Housing Watchdog Slams Lambeth's 267 Empty Homes

4.04.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 17th Apr 2007

Another empty property in Lambeth

Following Liberal Democrat revelations that under Labour Lambeth has become a squatter's paradise, a Government body charged with bringing empty homes back into use has savaged the Council for leaving 267 of its properties vacant.

David Ireland, Chief Executive of the Empty Homes Agency, said that Lambeth was losing £2.6 million in rent because of its failure to act.

He said, "The Council is failing to deal with housing need in Lambeth and it does not help at all if homes are left empty. There is a huge housing pressure in London and the onus is on everyone to deal with that"

An un-named Council spokesperson said in reply that a "root and branch reform of managing empty properties" had taken place adding that among their actions was to disconnect gas, water and electricity to prevent squatting.

Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr Ashley Lumsden, said, "The only disconnected thing is Labour's policy on empty homes - numbers of empty and squatted homes have soared under Labour."

Cllr Lumsden also said, "The Government watchdog's stinging criticism only echoes my own warnings that under Labour things are getting out of control. It took tough Liberal Democrat action between 2002-2006 to slash the number of empty properties left from when Labour were last in charge and now all that effort is being squandered."

Cllr Lumsden added, " It is galling for anyone in need of a home that Labour likes to limit the supply even further and galling for existing tenants that £2.6 million in income is lost which could be used to speed up repairs elsewhere. Labour cannot dodge this criticism when it comes from its own Government."