Empty homes blight many of our communities, from the richest to the poorest, with absent owners and investors often waiting for property prices to rise - known as landbanking.

Empty homes are not only unsightly, they can attract vandalism & anti-social behaviour making local peoples lives a misery. Meanwhile thousands of people wait on housing lists for a new home. 

Now Liverpool's Lib Dem Council plan to hit them where it hurts - in their pockets! 

From April 2007 owners of houses and flats that are empty for more than  6 months will have to pay full Council Tax - which will effect 8,357 properties.

Lib Dem Cllr Paul Clein, who initially proposed the move said: “People are buying up properties and leaving them to rot in the hope of making a quick buck. If they have to pay the full bill it might encourage them to bring them back into use."

“If businesses don’t want to pay more it’s tough. They should do something about these eyesores.”

Incredibly the plans have been attacked by Liverpool's Labour Leader, who told the Liverpool Echo,  "It is not very business-friendly!"

"People often say that New Labour care more for looking after business interests than fighting for ordinary people, but this just proves it," said Cllr Andrew Makinson, who is chair of the Resources Select Committee.

 "To say that the profits of bad private landlords & speculators should be put above the communities whose lives they are making a misery, it just shows how out of touch Labour has become!"