States back ‘cautious’ move to expand open market
A ‘cautious’ approach by Environment & Infrastructure to expanding the open market has been backed by States members.
The proposals, including an allowance of an average of three new property inscriptions on part A of the open market register annually, will now come into effect after the enabling legislation was approved almost unanimously.
The measures could raise up to £1.5m. a year for the public purse, with new inscriptions being charged a flat fee of £500,000 each.
Presenting the plans to the Assembly, E&I president Lindsay de Sausmarez said the open market was an important economic enabler, yet over recent years and decades, the number of part A properties on the register had fallen, largely because of inscriptions moving to part D of the register, which was for houses in multiple occupancy.
She said the new policy would ensure that new inscriptions were carefully managed.
Listen to a round-up of yesterday at the States on our Shorthand States podcast
She admitted that there were concerns that a sudden, uncontrolled influx would send the market ‘into a spin’.
She accepted that the number of new inscriptions had been the subject of much debate among industry stakeholders during consultation on the policy at a draft stage, with some arguing for fewer and some for a much higher number.
‘We settled on three because of the principle of protecting the market,’ she said.
‘While none of us know for sure where the tipping point of new inscriptions is, what we do know is that once the genie is out of the bottle it’s not going back in, so we have erred on the side of caution.’
Backing the policy, Deputy John Dyke praised the proposal as a ‘very good piece of legislation’ in terms of encouraging things to happen and granting flexibility to the open market.
He wondered whether Deputy de Sausmarez and her committee had considered the possibility of auctioning inscriptions to see if that could bring in more funds. The E&I president replied that her committee had done so, but were talked out of the idea by stakeholders, who explained to them that such a move would likely delay applications.
Deputy Nick Moakes said the open market was a ‘massive’ economic enabler for the island, and so he thought it of paramount importance to support it and ensure it was not destabilised.
He said three inscriptions per year were ‘plenty to begin with’.
