Tuesday, September 04, 2012
The Liberal Democrats have published a policy paper ahead of the
2012 Autumn Conference entitled "Decent Homes for All". The
policy ideas in the paper include:
- greater protection for private tenants, promoting longer
tenancies and creating a housing ombudsman service
- launching a major programme of house building, increasing the
rate of construction to at least 300,000 houses a year
- tackling 'landbanking' through a competition review of the
major builders, 'Community Land Auctions' and 'use it or lose it'
planning permissions
- giving local authorities greater ability to control second
homes - not just in rural areas - but also in areas such as central
London.
Liberal Democrats believe that everyone should have the right to
live in a home that is
safe, warm and meets at least minimum standards. In the private
rented sector, as in the public
and not-for-profit sectors, they believe that there must be some
regulation and, where necessary
inspection, to ensure that those standards are met and people are
protected from unscrupulous
or incompetent landlords and managing agents. A great deal of
public money is spent on
housing people in both social and private rented properties and
Liberal Democrats have a duty to ensure that
the taxpayer gets best value for that money.
Read More and
download the policy paper - Decent homes for all