New powers should be used to seize control of empty homes in London and allow councils to use them for social housing, say MPs.
They stressed that there are between 542,000 and 1.2 million empty homes in England, many of them in the capital.
Councils can already use Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) and Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) to take over empty properties and renovate them for social housing.
But these powers are rarely used given the risks to local authorities who have to prove a property is empty and the possibility of the owner seeking to reclaim it.
So the Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee is backing exploring an expansion of The Dormant Assets Scheme to cover long-term empty residential properties to tackle the housing crisis in London and other parts of England.
The move would see these properties taken into ownership by the Government and then assigned to councils as new social housing units.
The original owner of the property could seek to reclaim it from the Government, rather than the council, at market value at time of transfer into public ownership.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, told the committee that councils could make greater use of existing powers.
“But we have recognised that there is a case for looking at how we strengthen those to bring properties back into use,” he added.
The committee concluded that the Government must make it easier for councils to take control of empty properties by clarifying existing powers, making them less risky or providing new options such as an extension of The Dormant Assets Scheme to long-term empty residential properties.
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Vauxhall and Camberwell Green MP Florence Eshalomi, who chairs the committee, said: “Progress on delivering the 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament is vital.
“Councils should also be empowered to play a greater role in housebuilding and given additional powers to bring empty and under-occupied homes back into residential use.”
In their report on the affordability of home ownership, the MPs also urged the Government to reform stamp duty to help more people get on the property ladder.
A consultation should be launched by the end of 2026 to examine potential alternatives, they said.
The committee’s report recommended that stamp duty reform takes place alongside a reform of council tax.
The report said: “For decades, skyrocketing house prices, slow wage growth and unnecessary barriers in the market have contributed to a deterioration in the affordability of homeownership in England.”
The “nil rate” stamp duty threshold for first-time buyers shrank back from £425,000 to £300,000 from April 2025, and for home movers the zero rate threshold halved from £250,000 to £125,000.
Home buyers rushed to complete deals in the run-up to the changes.
Higher house prices in locations such as London and the south east of England often mean that buyers face particularly high stamp duty costs, making the jump to get on the housing ladder harder.
The report said stamp duty “puts barriers in front of people seeking to buy a new home”, adding that it “reduces the affordability of homeownership, slows the property market, and ultimately damages the economy.
“While it is a valuable source of revenue for public finances, stamp duty land tax must not be maintained in its current form and needs to be reformed.”
The committee said a consultation on alternatives to stamp duty should consider factors including revenue-raising power, impact on friction in the property market, progressiveness, and fairness.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “First-time buyers pay no stamp duty on homes worth up to £300,000 and can claim relief on purchases up to £500,000. We’re cutting weeks off the process of buying whilst saving first-time buyers £710 on average.”
Henry Jordan, group director of mortgages at Nationwide Building Society, said: “Any review should look across all property taxes, with the aim of creating a system that enables people to move home easily, is more progressive, encourages the more effective use of the housing stock and takes into account people’s ability to pay.”