Londoners have a huge problem, in return so does the next mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Since being voted in last week, Londoner’s votes on Thursday will give Sadiq Khan the undeniable and daunting task of meeting the insatiable and growing demand for housing. The scandal of this entire situation – many homes are actually unoccupied in London due to sky rocket prices.

57,000 properties in London currently stand empty, according to the charity Empty Homes. So many homes currently boarded up and are often in areas which attract anit-social behaviour. Londoners are feeling the frustrations over fears over safety over fear over prices.

The solution will not be simple, these homes could obviously help halt the massive issue with supplies in homes. All that is needed is imaginative thinking about how to bring back the homes in the deprived areas back to use without jeopardising anyone’s safety.

One of the issues causing the problem is the buy-to-leave investing concept, this model has become a growing and unwelcome practice in the property market. The model works on the idea that the property should be bought, left empty and left in the knowledge that the owners do not require it to meet the needs of the renting housing market, then later down the line sell the property back into the market at a profit.

This is currently reducing the amount of available housing in London and it is also hitting the capital’s economy hard, and causing resentment with first time buyers. While ministers have sought to address this by restricting mortgage interest relief, the many buy-to-leave investors from overseas are unlikely to be affected by this measure.

Sadiq Khan would have the power to change this recent trend in plans and purchasing. The new mayor could look at putting plans in place that reject planning permission and push councils and boroughs to place restrictions on newly built properties and put plans in place to halter the deliberate buy to leave schemes.