Criminal

It should be enough to make your blood boil.

Banks, bailed out by the tax payer, are sitting on scores of repossessed homes across Edinburgh and they are purposefully keeping them empty.

This is nothing new. The grand Georgian house here has been sitting boarded up fo 20 years.

It sits right beside another one also boarded up for 20 years.

I went to see a house the other day that has sat empty for 17 years and they have now decided to allow someone to buy it to live in.

Finally.

Why would the banks do this?

Simple.

Greed.

If they release the stock onto the market prices would ease. People would need to borrow less just to have a roof over their heads and then the banks wouldn't be making as much by forcing you to take out the largest possible mortgage that you could afford.

It was this kind of behaviour that led to the crash and the bail out of the banks by the tax payer. (That's you who is paying for this property to stand empty).

And still it goes on.

Maybe one of the political parties would be brave enough to step forward and say this is a disgrace?

Maybe one of them would put it in their manifesto that they will bring in an empty property tax to bring this sort of thing to an end. (Just think if people were living here they would be paying local council tax and that would mean your council tax might not have to be so high. Heaven forbid!)

Or maybe it will be ignored and everything will go on as before?

Who knows?

Maybe we should start pointing the finger at the real "hoodies" in society and not at the kids who could never even dream of owning a home in Edinburgh.

Is this "Big Society" in action?