Logan housing crisis: Call for state crackdown on derelict mansions costing ratepayers $150K to clear

Logan City Council has come up with a novel solution to the state’s housing crisis, calling for tougher fines on landlords who leave properties to run down while they “land bank’’.

Images of some of the empty houses found across Logan over the past 18 months. Pictures: Instagram and courtesy of UrbexLogan

A southeast Queensland city grappling with a growing homeless crisis is calling on the state government to introduce comprehensive tax reforms and financial incentives to discourage houses being left derelict.

Logan City Council will ask the state to include abandoned and derelict houses in any state housing policy reforms after revealing it had 6288 unoccupied private dwellings, which accounted for 5 per cent of the city’s housing stock.

The proposal would also help to alleviate the spiralling rental price burden in the city where the vacancy rate in April was 1 per cent, according to figures released from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland.

An empty house in Logan’s Kingston, left and a house in Logan’s southwest suburbs. Pictures: Contributed

The council said the state changes were necessary after it was forced to step in and clean up a Logan Central property, left to rack and ruin with broken windows, a damaged roof and an overgrown garden.

Despite issuing fines, the council said the owner, an interstate investor, had no financial motivation to demolish the house or clean up the property despite being repeatedly fined and threatened with prosecution.

The council report said it cost, on average, about $150,000 to knock down or tidy up a derelict house, with ratepayers carrying the financial burden.

“Considering the cost, the problem of abandoned houses has a disproportionate impact on local communities, where ratepayers unfairly bear the cost,” the report said.

“There is a need for structural financial or tax reforms, as a preventive measure.

“Fairness and equity is also a core motivation behind seeking more effective mechanisms at state level for increasing housing supply.”

The report said the move would also help address local crime around vacant houses, which adversely affected local communities and lowered property values.

It also said abandoned houses posed significant public safety risks and the “untapped resources” should be used to address the city’s housing demand.

In Queensland, it was considered trespassing to enter abandoned or derelict properties without permission.

Logan City Council says it costs about $150,000 to clean up a derelict property. Picture: Contributed

But online videos show more than 30 vacant and run-down houses, including some mansions, in Logan.

Windows and glass doors were shattered and a backyard in-ground swimming pool had turned green at one empty two-storey mansion in a Logan suburb.

Another low-set brown brick bungalow still proudly sported its raked pine cathedral ceiling, despite the removal of its glass sliding doors and internal graffiti.

Plaster debris left behind by vandals surrounded an elaborate Greek-style marble fireplace in an abandoned house on an urban block.

The wind was left to blow through the ragged curtains of what would once have been an opulent home to an overseas-born family who allegedly departed after failing visa requirements.

Bathroom products were still in cupboards in another property in Flagstone.

At its meeting this week, Logan also decided to ask the state to amend the Body Corporate and Community Management Act to allow body corporates to prohibit short-stay accommodation.

A Logan property with a swimming pool in poor condition. Picture: UrbexLogan

Logan councillor Lisa Bradley told this week’s council meeting that growth in the short-term accommodation market had led to higher rents and fewer rental properties, which she expected to worsen in Logan in the lead up to the 2032 Olympics.

She said Brisbane City Council’s introduction of a permit system to crack down on short-term rental accommodation would have a flow-on effect into Logan, where she expected more AirBnBs to pop up.

“With the new Brisbane permit restrictions, increases in interest rates, the influx for the Olympics and southern migration here, Logan will become more attractive to short-term rental accommodation,” she said.

“There is no robust solution to help our most vulnerable residents such as the over 50s and those with disabilities.”

The council heard of a Logan example from 2022 where rooms in a nine-bedroom house were advertised online for $80 a night each, equating to $720 a night or $5040 a week.

The council request to the state to include derelict houses in any updated housing policy will be made the at the October Local Government Association of Queensland conference in Brisbane.