Empty homes

We will look to work in partnership with empty homeowners to encourage them to bring their empty home back in to use however, where owners refuse to co-operate and the empty home is a high priority, then we will take appropriate enforcement action such as the following.

Enforced sale

We can enforce the sale of an empty home if the owner has a financial debt owed to us and it is registered against the property. The debt can be for one or more reasons, but to enforce a sale the debt needs to be for a “reasonable” sum of money. If the debt is unpaid, we can issue a notice to the owner to enforce the sale of the property to reclaim the debt and costs.

Compulsory purchase order (CPO)

Section 17 of the Housing Act 1985 allows us to carry out a compulsory purchase order to acquire under used or ineffectively used homes for residential purposes if there is a general housing need in the area. Section 226 (1)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows us to carry out a compulsory purchase order if we believe that the acquisition will facilitate the carrying out of redevelopment, development or improvement of the land or building.

The CPO process can be legally complicated, expensive and time consuming. The process also leaves us owning the empty home and having direct responsibility for it. Compulsory purchase is not undertaken lightly and only used as a last resort.