‘Voids’ and bad management

• THE housing crisis is referenced by Labour’s councillor Edmund Frondigoun in his somewhat
self-congratulatory letter, (The housing crisis demands action, March 14).

He keeps referring to empty second homes but does not mention that his council runs just short of a thousand empties, as does my housing association, Notting Hill Genesis, and the other large HAs operating in the borough.

I will gloss over the loss to the ratepayers of the rental income from these euphemistically labelled “voids”. The loss of the use of these homes has never been acceptable and we need legislation to compel the fining of owners behaving in this fashion.

There will be exceptions, many provided by the pernicious Probate Service who can cause homes to be empty awaiting sale while they spend half a year to come to a decision which could probably be provided by Artifical Intelligence in 10 to 15 seconds of computing time.

But generally speaking, empty properties stand idle due to institutionalised bad management. I call upon Georgia Gould, Camden Council leader, to explain why her voids policy makes sense to her.

PETER RUTHERFORD, NW6