HUNDREDS of council-owned buildings could be given away to people trying to get on the property ladder in Liverpool under new proposals.

Derelict properties that are too expensive to repair would be handed over to young couples and families who cannot afford to buy their own.

Supporters believe it would regenerate “tinned up” areas of the city as well as tackling the problem of sky-rocketing house prices.

Opposition councillors have put the motion before a meeting of the full council tonight but it would mean the ruling Lib-Dems backing the plans for them to get through.

Last night, Labour group leader Joe Anderson said: “If we are serious about tackling derelict properties we should be doing something now.

“We cannot afford to leave a legacy of rundown buildings in the city over the next few years.

“There are thousands of people in this city that cannot afford to get on to the property ladder yet there are thousands of buildings that are empty and rundown.

“We are giving them away in a few years anyway under stock transfer so why not give them away now and help people in the city?

“There is a shortage of affordable family housing in the city and this would be a great way to solve it.

“There are lots of empty family houses in Liverpool for which there are no plans to bring them back into use.

“There is also a growing over-supply of one and two bedroom flats in Liverpool.”

Potential owners would sign a contract agreeing to cover the cost of the repairs and preventing them from selling the buildings on for a certain amount of years.

The council owns 1,600 of the 8,350 empty buildings in Liverpool.

As well as that the motion calls for new planning rules restricting the number of one and two bedroom flats built in the city.

More than 1,000 city centre apartments are lying empty with fears that the market has been saturated.

Liberal group leader Steve Radford has been one of the major campaigners on clearing up the city’s derelict houses.

He said: “I’m quite curious that Cllr Anderson wants us to give away our assets. Where is the money coming for from this?

“It is all very well having these wish-list gimmicks but raising taxes on these properties would be much more of an incentive to the owners to sort them out and increase our revenues.”