Empty Homes
Bringing Empty Homes Back Into Use
Many people in Cheshire East need homes. Land to build new
houses is scarce, so reusing empty homes is a good source of
housing.
If you want to tell us about an empty home near you,
please complete our
'Empty Home' online form.
If you own an empty home, and want information and advice about
how to bring it back into use, please contact the Private Sector Housing team.
Why are homes left empty?
A significant number of empty homes are 'transactional' empty
homes - that is, they are being refurbished, or on the market for
sale or to let, or are part of a person's estate that is being
finalised. These will come back into use as a matter of course
without the need for any intervention.
There are other empty homes where the owner is unable to bring
the home back into use without some help. This might be because
they don't have the time, or the knowledge, or the money to do
whatever is necessary to bring the home back into use. We want to
support these owners to bring homes back into use, where they
are struggling to do this on their own.
Further still, there are owners who have abandoned the property,
or who have no intention of doing anything with the property.
Occasionally people have bought these properties as an investment
and are leaving it empty until the property market improves. Some
people may have moved away from the area and it is a case of "out
of sight, out of mind". Again, we want to encourage these owners to
bring the home back into use, but where they continue to leave the
property empty without good reason, we will use legal powers
available to us.
Why is the Council interested in empty homes?
We have a strategic responsibility for housing in our area,
ensuring that everyone has access to an affordable, decent and
appropriate home. We are also committed to ensuring that our
neighbourhoods are attractive places to live for everyone. Empty
homes often fall into disrepair and can cause problems for
immediate neighbours and the wider community, as they can attract
anti social behaviour, such as vandalism, fly-tipping,
squatting and arson attacks.
Our Enforcement powers
Where people needlessly leave homes empty and we have exhausted
all options to bring the house back into use with the owner, we
have a range of enforcement powers available to us:
- Compulsory purchase orders can be used to buy the property,
which we will then sell or lease to a housing partner, or sell on
the open market;
- Empty dwelling management orders enable us to take over the
management of the property, which we would do in partnership
with a housing provider and let it to someone in housing need;
- The sale of the property can be forced where the owner has an
outstanding debt to us, for example unpaid Council Tax or where we
have had to carry out emergency repairs or boarding up to secure
the property;
- Enforcement notices to carry out repairs or secure the
property, under a number of Acts or Parliament.
I Want to Buy an Empty Home
If you have seen an empty home that you are interested in
buying, you can normally find out who the owner is by doing a Land
Registry search. There is a small fee to pay for this, and can be
carried out online at 'Find a property' on the Land Registry
website. If you are unable to find the current owner from the
Land Registry information, please contact the Private Sector Housing team, and we can attempt
to contact the owner on your behalf using our records to let them
know that you are interested in purchasing their property. Data
protection restrictions prevent us from revealing owners details
directly to you.
What can I do to bring my empty home back into use?
There are a few options available to you:
1. Sell the property. You can either sell the
property privately, or through an estate agent. Estate agents
charge a fee for their service, but are more likely to achieve
greater coverage in marketing the property for you, and can provide
information and advice about the selling process.
Some social housing providers may
also be interested in buying your property, particularly if its on
an estate that they manage.
2. Let the property to tenants. You can either
let the property privately, or through a recognised letting
agent. The Private Sector Liaison Officers in
our Housing Options team are
always looking for landlords who are prepared to let their
properties to people in housing need. If you do decide to let
your property, it must reach a minimum standard; visit our pages
about privately rented
housing for more information.
We are working with housing partners to develop management
schemes, so that you can receive an income from your property
without the day to day responsibilities of being a landlord. We are
interested to hear from owners of empty homes who would be
interested in these schemes. Please contact
us to help us shape the new management schemes. It is envisaged
that we will be offering the following:
- Private Sector Leasing - for properties in
good repair; a Registered Social Landlord (RSL, or housing
association) leases the property from you for an agreed period of
time, for example 3 or 5 years, and sub-lets it to a tenant. You
will receive a guaranteed rental income (which is likely to be
lower than the income you would get if you let the property
yourself), but the RSL takes on the responsibility for tenant
damage to the property, and still pay the agreed rent to you
between tenancies.
- Improve and Lease - for properties that
require repairs or improvements; again, an RSL leases the property
from you for an agreed period of time, and carries out the repairs
before sub-letting the property to a tenant. You will receive a
guaranteed rental income, but lower than that for Private Sector
Leasing, to reflect the investment needed for repairs.
- Rental Agents - an RSL manages the
property on your behalf for an agreed fee, but you do not get a
guaranteed rental income; instead, you receive a higher rental
income. This is very similar to high street letting agents, but
offering you another option of having your property managed by very
experienced landlords, who often have repair services, legal
services and links with the housing waiting list for Cheshire
East as additional benefits.
3. Improve the property. Make sure you use
reputable tradespeople to carry out the work; we recommend getting
three quotes and taking up references where possible. Certain types
of work require building regulations
approval, or must be carried out by a contractor on a competent
persons' scheme, including gas, electric, and windows and doors.
Financial assistance may be available from us if you intend to live
in the property yourself; please complete our
online enquiry form. We are consulting on our draft Private Sector Housing Financial Assistance
Policy from 6th December 2011 to 24th February 2012; please let
us know your views about the assistance we are proposing to
offer.
Contact Us
If you want to report an empty home that is causing a problem
near you, please complete our
'Report an Empty Home' online form.
If you own an empty home, and want information and advice about
how to bring it back into use, please contact the Private Sector Housing team.
Useful Links
Empty Homes is an independent
charity, and provides useful information about bringing empty homes
back into use.
Local authorities in Kent have developed a useful website
No Use Empty which provides a
wide range of useful information.
The Department for Communities and Local Government, together
with the Ministry of Justice, have published an
advice guide on dealing with squatters on their website.
