Mapping crime hot spots could affect rents and house prices

Mapping crime hot spots could affect rents and house prices

17:13 PM, 1st February 2011, About 14 years ago

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Buy to let landlords could see their rents and property prices plunge if they are listed in a crime black spot on police maps published online for the first time.

The maps pinpoint every crime and antisocial behaviour street-by-street for the entire UK to reveal the best and worst neighbourhoods.

The mapping reveals many rural areas suffer no crime – while Glover’s Court in Preston is highlighted as one of the streets with most recorded crime with 152 incidents in December – with 44 involving violence.

For house in multiple occupation investors, the maps are also a handy reference to counter council claims that concentrations of shared houses in a neighbourhood are hubs of antisocial behaviour.

Many homeowners also fear insurance companies can track car crime and vandalism at street level and may use the figures to hike premiums.

Anyone online can access the maps by inputting a postcode in to the search box at www.police.uk web site.

Landlords can watch their tenants online

One handy idea is that landlords can keep an eye on their rental properties by checking crime levels in the streets where they are located.

Besides crime figures, the site also has closed-circuit TV footage of incidents and details of local beat officers.

The maps show all reported offences of burglary, robbery, vehicle crime, violence, and antisocial behaviour.

Landlords can expect savvy tenants to check out the risk of crime in the neighbourhood before they sign up to a tenancy agreement.

Some police forces are looking at extending the mapping – Hampshire are posting daily crime data while Thames Valley – covering Buckinghamshire and Berkshire – are looking at linking trends in antisocial behaviour.

To help homeowners labelled as a crime hotspot, the Information Commissioner is looking at a process for disassociating a specific property from a crime.


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