Just in case anyone has forgotten...

... you have technically no private property rights in the UK.

...if an owner has no legally-approved excuse for keeping a home empty, councils can demand it be put on the market. Otherwise they can take control and let it out to council tenants.
The seizure must be approved by a Residential Property Tribunal and the rent is passed to the owner after the council has taken a share to cover its own costs.

Since when does anyone need a legally approved excuse for doing whatever the fuck they like with something they own? As long as it harmed no-one else they could leave the gas on and flick lit matches through the letter box for all I care. It's their house and what happens to it is entirely up to them as long as they own it. Or at least it should be. In the "People's Republic" style UK you can do what you will with your property until someone says you can't anymore. Call that property rights? I don't.

This is relevant to ex-pats who still have properties in Air Strip One Britain. If they can't afford to take a huge financial hit by selling up in a dead market (which of course is why some didn't sell when they emigrated) and are unlucky with finding tenants then they risk some officious bastard seizing it for the use of the state and housing who fucking knows in it. You might be lucky and get decent tenants that way... or you might get oxygen thieves who'll knock holes in the walls and shit in the sink.

The Glorious PRUK - you have the right to do as you're told. Bastards.