Sadiq Khan Vows To Crack Down On London Property Sales To Foreign Buyers

Sadiq Khan Vows To Crack Down On London Property Sales To Foreign Buyers
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Restrictions on property sales will be brought in to stop London becoming the world capital of money laundering, the city's mayor Sadiq Khan has insisted.

Mr Khan said he was going to impose new rules aimed at limiting the sale of homes to foreign investors who then leave the properties empty.

The mayor insisted he would "absolutely" bring in a regime where dwellings would have to be marketed in the capital for the first six months in order to receive permission to be built.

Asked on ITV's Peston On Sunday if he would impose such rules, Mr Khan said: "Absolutely. We shouldn't be embarrassed about saying first dibs to Londoners, we shouldn't be embarrassed of saying we need to build homes for Londoners.

"We shouldn't be embarrassed of saying our homes are homes, not gold bricks for investment for investors in the Middle East and Asia."

Pressed if he intended to target the oligarch property boom, Mr Khan said: "Well, I've got nothing against luxury properties being built in London. What we can't have is London being the world's capital for money laundering."