Now this is good, is it not? Nicky Bianchi (September 1) is in favour of “incentives” (to be paid by the government, no doubt) to bring long vacant and unutilised accommodation property back into the market.

First the owners allow a property to go the dogs for years on end. As heirs or otherwise they keep arguing endlessly among themselves and push off going to court for as long as they can. They dream of some foreigners or speculating ‘developers’ (sic) giving them the unrealistic price they want.

Then, when none of this satisfies them enough, they expect us all, as taxpayers, to bail them out of their self-imposed failings.

Really takes the biscuit, does it not?

I do not have the slightest doubt that the moment any government launched a properly-structured property tax on long vacant and unutilised properties, feuding heirs will start seeing sense, will start reducing their asking prices for the properties or do them up properly to put them back into the property market mainstream. Or, perhaps, even rent them at sensible rates at levels that help those seeking a roof over their heads without, however, being regularly milked or skinned alive by such property owners.