portfolio holder for housing! Now I heard everything!

Maybe you should put down your portfolio get in your car and drive to the addresses on your books and see if the houses are empty. research is being undertaken!

1) is the rent being paid?

2) does the accomodation look like someone is living in it?

3) Does someone come to the door when you ring the bell? - if the answer is to theses questions is NO.

Then it is probably empty - research done.

See that wasn't too difficult

MAKES YOU WANT TO SCREAM HOW MANY ARE EMPTY??? We are a family of 5 living in 2 bed accomidation... YES WE PAY OUIR OWN WAY NOT ON BENEFITS ATAL... APPARANTLY THERE IS NO 3 BEDROOMS AVALIBLE TO OUR FAMILY??????????????
?????????? HHMMMMMMMM IM SURE SOME WHERE SOME ONE HAS NOT GOT A CLUE.............

Emma, if you dont claim 'benefits atal' why don't you rent a place privately or buy a place of your own?

It was your decision to have all those kids, so why should everyone else pay to house them? Stop moaning about your lot, it is your fault you are overcrowded.

It really makes me sick the way people think its their 'right' to demand bigger housing just because they can't use contraceptive effectively.

Sadly, the number of empty properties, combined with the desperation of people looking for a decent home is not just a local problem, but a national scandal. Let's hope Hannah David is serious in her desire to do something practical about the problem.

Excuse me mr angry tax payer MY FAMILYIS ONE OF THOOSE ASWELL.
i would love nothing more to buy my own house but we dont earn enough money.Your right it IS MY desicion to have 3 children and i have never ONCE demanded a bigger property.. My point was there is many empty properties yet familys like my self are living in smaller accomidation... ITS PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO MAKE ME SICK think they have the right to tell people to stop having children and stop demanding propertys.... I dont DEMAND nothing... I WILL HAVE AS MANY KIDS AS I WANT TO belive me...... AND FOR YOUR BENEFIT ONCE AGAIN WE ARE TAX PAYERS AS WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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DEAR, angry tax payer how do you belive in emmas situation that tax payers are paying for her children?? i see in your comment to her you said she sould rent privatly? DID you realise if she was to rent privatley and didnt have enough money then we (tax payers) would be PAYING for it? I am 68 and have given my 3 bedroom council house to a family like emmas i no live in a 1 bedroom flat. If more people were like me than we would have enough propertys.Think back to your younger years my dear and how familys also struggled then... I understand emmas situation i was of age with 3 children and a husband once TAX PAYER ALL MY LIFE.

Angry tax payer...council house dwelling were paticularly aimed for affordable housing for the likes of Emma...how short sighted you are, these properties stand idle it is exactly the taxpayer who is paying to maintain empty properties, get them occupied, get some rent into the boroughs coffers, and Angry Tax Payer wind your neck in!!

I would like to firstly point out that i am neither a parent, a council house tenant nor do i know any of the people who have been featured in this paper. I am a 26 year old woman who has grown up in this town and have been shocked and appalled by the misguided and somtimes viscious comments that have been put here by the 'neighbours' of this town over the last few months. The average wage in the S/E of England is £15-£18000 per annum. It is near on impossible to get and keep a mortgage with that kind of income. The comments such as 'Why should i have to pay because you don't know how to use contraception?' are spiteful and disgusting. Should no one have children until they are completely financially stable? i think the world would become very short of people very soon, especially in the current climate. Most council house residents are also 'angry taxpayers' too and resent the implication that just because they cannot afford to private rent or get a mortgage then they must be free loaders who do not work and live off of the state. Well i think you will find you are sadly mistaken. Most 'Borehamwood girls' do not get pregnant before they leave school just to get a council house and then proceed to have several children by several different fathers and as a 'Borehamwood girl' i was deeply offended by this comment. Those of you who are lucky enough to have a 6 figure salary so that you can have a nice house should think before you pass judgement on those who are working hard but sometimes just need a little help as that is what the council/housing association is there for. Stop taring everyone with the same brush, it just isn't fair! What gives any of us the right to pass judgement or comment on people we do not even know. Angry Taxpayer you seem to have very little education on this subject or you would realise that it is costing YOU money to have those properties standing empty. Putting rent paying singles/couples or families into them will stop your hard earned and obviously begrudgingly given taxes paying for these empty dwellings.

I would just like to agree with most of the posts on here..Council houses and Housing **** are for people who dont earn enough to buy yes?? so why are there so many people that look upon families like emmas in discust?? if she is unable to buy and doesnt earn enough to private rent how are we paying for her children? and is it not only right that realy she is entitled to one of thoose propertys? If there are that many empty then why are people living in conditions that they shouldnt have to? STAND UP EMMA and tell them how it is your family deserve more...

i think "angry tax payer" totaly missed the point theres 400 empty homes.... i was just pointing out hertsmere have told me that there is a 3 and a half year waiting list for a 3 bedroom house. one of the 400 must be a 3 bedroom.I do wonder why there will be such a long wait when theres 400 emoty homes! i could actualy tell you about 9 houses that are empty. like ellie said its realy not that difficult see if some where is un ocupied...