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Islanders thinking about down-sizing their homes could benefit from a scheme incentivising them to do so, if a bid from a St Helier Deputy aimed at easing the island's housing crisis is successful.
Reform Jersey Deputy Tom Coles has lodged an amendment to the Government Plan, which is due to be debated in December, calling for the development of "a scheme to encourage and incentivise right-sizing", which would be presented to the States Assembly before 31 May 2024.
In the report accompanying his amendment, Deputy Coles notes that data included in the 2021 Census indicated that 44.1% of all owner-occupied homes are under-occupied.
According to the Census report by Statistics Jersey, this means they had "at least two bedrooms more than they needed".
Pictured: Deputy Tom Coles is calling for a scheme to encourage and incentivise right-sizing.
Last year, former Housing Minister Russell Labey launched a survey about how the Government could help islanders to live in homes "that are the right size for their needs".
And a section of the 2022 Bridging Island Plan states that it "supports and enables the provision of a proportion of right-sizing homes on sites zoned for the provision of affordable homes".
Deputy Coles's report states: "The purpose of this amendment is to bring back to the foreground the need for right-sizing in our bid to tackle the housing crisis.
"It is not the intention of this amendment to handcuff government to any single mechanism to encourage right-sizing.
"It would be my personal opinion that we should be looking at a reduced stamp-duty rate for those right-sizing, as there would be an additional transaction going in the other direction that would make up for this reduction."
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