Labour Quietly Legislating For State-Set Property Prices – Guido Fawkes

Labour Quietly Legislating For State-Set Property Prices

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The government is currently pushing through legislation that edges uncomfortably close to land socialism. Angela Rayner presented the ‘English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill’, currently at its second reading. Nestled within the bill is Schedule 27, a provision giving local authorities the power to create a list of so-called ‘Community Assets’. Once a property is on this list, it can only be sold to a “preferred community buyer”…

Crucially, the value of the asset is set by the local authority, with powers granted to lower it below market value by regulation. The ‘preferred buyer’ is then able to purchase the property at the council-determined price. These powers can be activated up to five years before any potential development, effectively placing long-term restrictions on private landowners. The definition of a ‘community asset’ is notably vague:

“Land… is land of community value if… there was a time in the past when an actual use of the building… furthered the economic or social wellbeing… of the local community”.

So land or buildings that once served a public or community purpose – even decades ago – could fall under these restrictions, even if someone currently owns it. Maxwell Marlow of the Adam Smith Institute told Guido:

“Schedule 27 is a return to Land Communism but with a few more steps. The Government must immediately strip this schedule from the Bill – communities can already purchase assets through the open market, by placing new regulations there, it creates huge problems for investments, ownership, and trust in local authorities. If this Bill did pass in its current form, it is likely that the Competitions and Markets Authority would need to publicly intervene, signalling that the government is not backing the builders, but instead those who want to frustrate markets.”

One for the Tories to jump on…