Divisive ‘dob in your neighbour’ scheme cracking down on vacant properties

One nation’s drastic plan to crack down on vacant properties is encouraging neighbours to turn on each other – but could a similar scheme work Down Under?

One nation is cracking down on the scourge of vacant properties by encouraging neighbours to turn on each other – but could a similar scheme work Down Under?

A so-called “dob on my neighbour scheme” has been proposed by Westminster City Council in central London, and it’s a concept that’s gaining traction elsewhere in the world.

Under the London proposal, residents of the Westminster borough would be able to use a hotline to report a neighbouring property that was vacant for half the year, with the scheme put forward after research found a 123 per cent jump in long-term empty residential properties from 2021-22.

Australia is in the grip of a devastating housing crisis. Picture: iStock

“For many, the thought of so many homes in Westminster sitting empty, essentially left to rot, while thousands wait for housing, will be hard to swallow,” the BBC quoted council leader Adam Hug as saying.

“These measures are an important first step in tackling the issue of empty houses in Westminster, where absentee international investment can hollow out our communities and waste a vital supply of homes.”

The council website states it aims to “work with owners to bring properties back into use, ideally opening them up to the rental market to provide much needed housing for our community”.

It explains there are “a range of enforcement measure that can be used, such as taking over management of the property or through the use of compulsory purchase powers”.

In the UK, councils are more heavily involved in housing and other services as there are no state governments under their political system.

A similar scheme is also in place in Jersey, while the state of New York in the US also set up a consumer hotline to help residents report “zombie” homes in recent years.

There were nearly 11 million (10,852,208) private dwellings counted in the 2021 Census, up from 950,712 in 2016. But shockingly, 1,043,776 of those have nobody living in them. They are either holiday homes or investment properties that, at the time of Census, were unoccupied.

And given the latest figures reveal there are more than 160,000 empty homes across Greater Sydney alone, attention is now turning to whether a similar program could help Australia’s well-known housing crisis.

However, Maiy Azize, spokeswoman from the Everybody’s Home campaign — a coalition of housing, homelessness and welfare organisations — told news.com.au she didn’t believe a hotline was the answer.

“Australians shouldn’t be relying on hotlines from neighbours to provide them with homes,” Ms Azize said.

“About 10 per cent of homes in Australia are empty. Some are holiday homes, some are awaiting new tenants, and some are unliveable.

“Even if all of Australia’s vacant homes were provided to renters, most wouldn’t be affordable – and there would still be many more renters in need than homes that can be moved into.”

Ms Azize said that was why Australia needed the Federal Government to “get back into the business of providing the essential service of affordable homes”.

“We’re calling on the Federal Government to invest in 25,000 social homes every year to end our huge shortfall of social and affordable rentals,” she said.

Some believe a ‘dob in your neighbour’ scheme to report vacant properties could help. Picture: iStock

“We’re also calling on the Government to wind back tax breaks for landlords and use that money to build more homes, and support renters who are doing it tough.”

Finder money expert Rebecca Pike told news.com.au the lack of housing in Australia was having a devastating impact on renters, but that adopting a similar scheme to London’s wouldn’t solve the underlying problem.

“It’s clear that something needs to be done to help the current housing crisis. Our research shows that more and more Australians are struggling to pay rent, as they also grapple with the rising costs elsewhere,” Ms Pike said.

“This scheme in London is a unique way to try and tackle the problem, but it puts the onus on citizens to do something about it rather than acknowledge what other government support might be needed.

“This scheme is also in one of the richer parts of London and so would not necessarily be helpful in freeing up some of the more affordable housing that we so desperately need.

“Regardless, it will be interesting to see the effect of the scheme and whether it might be considered elsewhere.”

A whopping 43 per cent of Aussie renters struggled to pay their rent in March, according to Finder’s Consumer Sentiment Tracker.

A Finder survey also recently revealed 10 per cent of renters have shacked up with a partner earlier than planned to make rent more affordable – equivalent to more than 290,000 households who have rushed romance to counteract the spiralling cost of living.