Our second Empty Homes Strategy provides information on the extent of the problem from the national, regional and local perspective.  It also describes the Council's plans for working with others to bring empty properties back into use.

Empty homes represent a wasted resource for owners who could otherwise make financial gains by letting or selling them; for households in desperate need of housing; and for the community at large who may be adversely affected by the physical decline of empty property.  The Council is committed to making the best use of resources to meet local housing need and tackling empty homes forms an important part of our strategic approach to housing.  Bringing empty homes back into use also helps the Council to achieve its corporate priorities.

According to the Empty Homes Agency, there are almost 700,000 empty properties and 300,000 long term empty properties (six months or more) in England.  The government has expressed a commitment to reduce the numbers of long term empty properties by 25,000 by the year 2010.  Within the eastern region there are over  59,000 empty homes.

The Council works proactively to bring empty homes back into use.  This has resulted in the some successes, in the years 2002/2005 117 properties were either demolished or brought back into use as a result of our interventions with a further 65 predicted for 2005/6.

The Council's interventions to encourage owners to bring empty homes back into use include:

• The Home Choice scheme which seeks to prevent homelessness by removing the barriers often associated with accessing the private rented sector.  A register of available properties is updated weekly by the Council to promote properties available to let.  The Council has made a commitment to fast track housing benefit applications; monitor tenancies; inspect properties and act as an advocate between tenant and landlord.
• The Rent in Advance/Rent Deposit Loan scheme enables people to access empty private sector properties available to rent by assisting the applicant with the tenancy deposit and rent advance.  this is a loan, repayable to the Council in weekly instalments.
• A Private Sector Leasing agreement is available with a housing association who manages the property on behalf of the landlord thereby guaranteeing rental income and taking the responsibilities associated with tenancy management on.
• An active landlord forum that meets twice a year with a newsletter produced between meetings provides a forum to discuss empty property issues; highlight the Council's policies; and promote good practice.
• A comprehensive housing advice service providing advice to tenants and landlords.
• Landlord grants to a maximum of £20k per property are available to bring homes back into use where the landlord requires some financial assistance to pay for renovation and modernisation costs.  In exchange for the grant, the Council seeks at least five years nomination rights to the property and a commitment to only charge reasonable affordable rents at housing benefit threshold levels.

If these incentives are unsuccessful in bringing empty homes back into use, the Council has a range of enforcement powers.  These include provisions to require the owner of property to make it safe; secure; and to remove rubbish and vermin.  Ultimately, the Council has the power to use Compulsory Purchase Orders and Empty Management Dwelling Orders which were introduced in the Housing Act 2004.

To inform us of a property that has been empty for some time please use the link on the right.