We have to be careful when there is an outcry for changes in legislation that impinge on the liberty of each individual in this wonderful and liberal country of ours.  There is a substantial cost to an owner of a property (in Bishops Avenue or any other road) together with Council Tax which should deter most people from leaving properties derelict for any length of time.

The problem in Bishops Avenue is that development of these single large properties has taken, in some cases, five years or more (when you take the planning and construction complications into account) and therefore to see 20% of the 66 properties in the road-requiring repair is not so peculiar.

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If I may can I take  you on a small tangential journey.  London, forty years ago, was a souvenir city, rich in history and culture (similar to Paris today) and very little else.  The centre of the commercial universe was New York.

After Margaret Thatcher freed-up exchange controls and liberated and de-regulated  the byzantine dynamics of the city of London, the Capital over the last 30/40 years became metamorphosed into the financial colossus that it is today.  More IPOs take place in London than anywhere else in the world and if you don’t have a presence here, you are not in the game.

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There is a raging debate at the moment about the social ramifications of empty homes and commentator Boris Johnson, as well as others, is talking about applying punitive council taxes on the owners for keeping a property empty for a prolonged period.

My view is quite clear since there is a very delicate line between having sympathy for the homeless yet allowing home owners to do as they please with their own property in a free, liberal country such as the UK.

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