LONDON, June 17 (UPI) -- New regulations in Britain allow local councils to refurbish and find tenants for houses and apartments that have been empty for six months.
The owners most likely to be affected are those who have recently acquired property through death, the Daily Mail reports.
The rules would not give councils title to the property, although houses could remain under council control for as long as seven years. Vacation homes and homes of people who have relocated temporarily for work would be exempt.
When Parliament adopted the Housing Act in 2004, officials said that council seizures were aimed at preventing a buildup of vacant houses in troubled areas. But the regulations as written would apply to any house, the Daily Mail said.
"Seizing homes of the recently deceased is particularly disturbing," said Michael Gove, the housing spokesman for the Conservative Party. "I doubt that state officials will always recognize the delays that can result from complex wills or appreciate the traumatic ordeal that families face with the task of clearing a home of personal possessions. I fear this is a stealthy new form of inheritance tax."
