Do we need Land Reform in England?

antrobus

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

...Such an approach always stalls because whatever major event you wish to revert to, and 'undo' or 'correct', someone will - with equal legitimacy - go back a bit further and present a totally different scenario.....

One suspects that the poster concerned is fixated with the fact that dear old William the Illegitimate asserted ownership of every single acre of land in England (other than that owned by the church) as a result of kicking the proverbials out of the English at Hastings in 1066.

One might respectfully point out that prior English (and Danish) ownership of said land was only based on the fact that they'd nicked it themselves from the previous Romano-British owners, who'd recovered it from the Romans, who'd got it from the Celts, who kicked out the Beaker people, and so forth.

purch

Wales belongs to Owain Glyndwr, and he's welcome to it :eek:

antrobus

C_Mababejive wrote: »

....Now then,,i am not actually in favour of land ownership. I dont want to own any. I am much in favour of the Cuban model. You are granted occupation rights and useage rights for as long as you live and then the land is passed to another person until they die and so on......

I believe that you're a bit behind the times. The result of the 'Cuban model' was the regular collapse of poorly maintained buildings, sometimes resulting in the death of the occupants. Even the Cubans have come to the conclusion that this "Cuban model" doesn't work and now allow people to buy and sell homes as per normal. Or almost.

Cuba, home of the world’s oddest property market
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/95d3017e-d364-11e2-b3ff-00144feab7de.html

Loughton_Monkey

antrobus wrote: »

.....Cuba, home of the world’s oddest property market
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/95d3017e-d364-11e2-b3ff-00144feab7de.html

Jail for "lying about house prices" is an interesting concept.

Would Hamish get the cell next door to the Devon boy? Feathers might fly.......

antrobus

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Jail for "lying about house prices" is an interesting concept.

Would Hamish get the cell next door to the Devon boy? Feathers might fly.......

What I found quite interesting was the fact that Fidel Castro did not approve of golf. Hence no golf courses in Cuba.

C_Mababejive

Of course we can chat and debate about peripheral issues but the core problem in the UK is that vast areas of its land mass were stolen/sequestrated and are still in the hands of descendants due to inheritance with no legal requirement to register whilst the vast majority of the populace exist as feudal tenants of The Crown on over priced plots, in the smallest houses in Europe and America for which they shed a disproportionate amount of sweat during their lifetime.

Of course parallel systems exist in the likes of the USA but then there is so much space and the State rather than the Crown has ultimate control of land.

Look at any USA realty web site excluding big Cities such as NY, and see how little a much better/larger home costs and they arent even tacked onto your neighbour either.

The rest of the developed world must think we live like rats.

robskillz

Excellent discussion! Good to see some Monbiot mentioned too. The Land Value Tax he mentions seems to make good sense: http://www.landvaluetax.org/
Maybe this is something that the Green Party might be interested in?

IveSeenTheLight

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

So to resolve the problem, all it needs is some form of 'condition' attached to any planning permission granted.

There is a time limit on planning permission and building warrants

cepheus

robskillz wrote: »

Excellent discussion! Good to see some Monbiot mentioned too. The Land Value Tax he mentions seems to make good sense: http://www.landvaluetax.org/
Maybe this is something that the Green Party might be interested in?

It most definitely is, it was Caroline Lucas pushing the bill on this. The Greens are really the only party which would make a difference, in a good way!

Fair and progressive’ Land Value Tax would help stabilise property market
9 November 2012
The government should do more to tackle destructive practices in the volatile property market and reform the way property is valued by looking into a new tax on unearned profits, the Green MP said today.

Caroline Lucas, whose Land Value Tax Bill is due its second reading in Parliament, is calling on the Treasury to look into the practicalities of replacing Business Rates and Council Tax with a Land Value Tax – with a view to phasing it in over a period of 10 years or more.

http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2012/11/09/%E2%80%98fair-and-progressive%E2%80%99-land-value-tax-would-help-stabilise-property-market/

cepheus

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Jail for "lying about house prices" is an interesting concept.

They seem to have some good ideas after all!