Issue - meetings

Report of the Director - Neighbourhoods

The Service Manager for Public Protection presented the report of the Director for Neighbourhoods and noted that as the Empty Homes Strategy was due for renewal at the end of 2023 it was timely for it to be reviewed by the Group today to help shape and form the Strategy going forward.

The Service Manager for Public Protection explained that whilst the empty homes function of Environmental Health work was discretionary, the impact was so great that the Council considered it necessary and valuable. He said that in 2019 there were over 500 empty properties across the Borough and that empty homes could be detrimental to the community through attracting vandalism, fly tipping, criminal and anti-social behaviours and could reduce the value of neighbouring properties.

The Service Manager for Public Protection said that bringing properties back into use assisted in meeting housing needs and improved the housing stock within the Borough and helped to regenerate blighted areas. They also contributed to the Council’s income through Council Tax contributions and Empty Homes Bonus.

The Service Manager for Public Protection said that it was not expected that the Government would make any significant changes to legislation, nor did the Council anticipate making significant changes to the Strategy subject to feedback from the Group. He referred the Group to suggested areas for review at paragraph 4.22 of the report.

The Empty Homes Officer explained that the Empty Homes Strategy was first implemented by the Council in April 2019 and at the same time it employed a part-time dedicated Empty Homes Officer. He said that early work involved creating processes and procedures and launching the website to provide a first point of reference.

The Empty Homes Officer highlighted key achievements since 2019, being that:

·       74 problematic homes had been returned into use with intervention from the Council

·       2,400 properties had returned to use without intervention but likely impacted by communications from the Council

·       61 enforcement notices had been issued by the Council

·       The Council had developed a comprehensive database of all empty homes across the Borough

·       Stricter enforcement procedures had been adopted, one enforced sale had been completed and four further enforced sales were progressing.

The Empty Homes Officer said that the number of long term empty homes had reduced from 511 at 2019 to 465 in 2023 and that on average 10% of long term empty homes were removed from the database every month, with a similar amount added. He said that the Borough remained below the national average of 1.02% for long term empty home against dwellings, standing at 0.83%.

The Revenues and Benefits Principal Officer provided a summary of Council Tax levies on empty homes, explaining that empty homes were deemed to be where they were not a person’s main home. He said that people could own as many homes as they wished but could only live in one main home. He explained that the classification for second homes were homes that were suitable for overnight accommodation but which did not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4