Deputy launches true ownership bid

Monday 20 July 2020

The real owners of buildings currently held in companies and trusts will be revealed, if a plan for a new registry is successful.

Finding out who ultimately owns residential and commercial property will help government make better decisions about housing policy, according to politician behind the idea, Deputy Mike Higgins.

His proposal - to create a digital register that will be held by the Jersey Financial Services Commission and not made public - will be debated by the States Assembly when politicians return in the autumn. 

Deputy Higgins said: “The Government has no idea who owns commercial and residential property in the island. It is therefore hamstrung by a lack of data to deal effectively with the housing and commercial property markets.

“If it does not know who owns commercial property, it will not know whether a monopoly or other anti-competitive structure exists to distort the market and drive up rental and lease costs.

Pictured: St. Helier Deputy Mike Higgins who is calling for the property ownership register.

“If it does not know how much property in Jersey is owned by people who live overseas or by wealthy people living in the island not as a home for owner-occupation but as an investment, it will not know if house and commercial properties have been inflated in price by as much as 20 or 30% as it has been the case in some cities and countries around the world or know the impact this investment has on the housing rental market such as driving up rents.”

Deputy Higgin’s idea is distinct from another registry being proposed of all landlords in the islands. This Council of Ministers initiative has met opposition in the States, with a backbencher and landlord, St Peter Deputy Rowland Huelin, recently coming up with an alternative plan for a digital register.