How will the council deal with empty homes?
We will deal with the issue of empty homes on both a proactive and reactive basis.
On a reactive basis we will:
- seek to minimise the problems of empty homes by talking to the owner and trying to ensure that the property is in a secure condition and not a statutory nuisance
- take enforcement action including work in default and legal action to recover costs and legal proceedings for non-compliance with notices.
On a proactive basis we will:
- effectively collect and collate information on empty homes and their owners by identifying those properties that have been empty for over 6 months based on information supplied from the council tax department. A letter will be sent to the owners advising them of how the council can assist them in returning the property to use
- after a property has been empty for more than 12 months and no contact or correspondence has been entered into, a member of the housing team will inspect the property and complete a prioritisation sheet. (appendix a) Properties scoring the highest points and empty the longest will then be targeted for priority treatment.
To ensure all relevant departments are involved the Strategic Housing team work with colleagues and partner agencies to exchange information, identify and prioritise homes and develop new initiatives for homes identified as a priority for action.
These include:
- housing officers
- building control officers
- environmental health officers
- property services officers
- legal and Council Tax officers.
They will liaise with:
- councillors
- town and parish councillors
- the fire service
- the police authority
- the general public and any other interested parties as part of this process.
The Housing Act 2004 (s237) allows the council to use information provided for the purpose of council tax to identify properties that are registered as empty in order that it can take steps to bring these properties back in to use.
In seeking to identify empty properties all processing of personal data will be in accordance with the council’s data protection policy and the rights of data subjects contained in Part 2 of the Data Protection Act 1988.
The council will contact the owners/landlords of empty properties and will offer advice and support to those wishing to bring their properties back into use. It will do this by providing information on repairs, grants and loans assistance and letting and managing a property.
We will also outline the financial benefits to the owner of bringing the property back into use by consideration of the potential income, the savings on maintaining and securing an empty property, the increased value that will result from the occupancy of a property and conversely the depreciation in value if the property is not maintained and occupied. If the owner is unwilling to bring the property back into use the council will consider using its enforcement powers to bring the property back into use.