Empty Homes

What can the local authority do to owners who keep their property empty? …

 

• Compulsory purchase orders (CPOs)

Serving compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) on empty properties may be justified where there appears to be no other chance of a suitable property being used as a home. Before a CPO is confirmed, the LA’s will have to show that they have taken steps to encourage the owner to bring the property into acceptable use.  They will also need to show that their  reasons for making a CPO justify interfering with your human rights or those of anyone else with an interest in the property.

• Housing Act 1985, section 17

This Act gives the LA the power to take over land, houses or other properties to increase the number of houses available or improve the quality of the housing stock. The main uses of this power are to get land for housing. This includes bringing empty properties back into use as homes, and improving substandard ones. Where we get control of a property through this power, they will usually sell it to:

• a private-sector developer
• an owner-occupier or
• a registered social landlord

 

• Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 226

The powers in section 226 are intended to help local authorities which have planning powers to take control of the land they need to put in place their community strategies and local development documents. These planning powers are wide enough to allow us to take over land for redevelopment.

• Enforced sales procedures

Law of Property Act 1925, where the LA have issued and enforced a charge against a property you own, they have all the legal rights of a mortgage lender under the Law & Property Act 1925. The LA may have issued the charge against the property because you did not:

• obey the terms of a statutory notice we issued or
• pay Council Tax or other debts you owed to the local authority.

 

• Dangerous or dilapidated Buildings or structures

Building Act 1984, sections 77 & 78 . The LA can order you to make property safe or allow them to take emergency action to make it safe.

• Statutory nuisance (statutory nuisance or premises which can affect health)

Environmental Protection Act, 1990, Section 80 (link) Building Act 1984, Section 76. The LA can order you to make your property safe or allow them to take emergency action to make the building safe.

• Unsecured properties

These are empty properties that are not secure so they can be broken into, vandalised, set on fire and so on. Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, Section 29
The LA can order you to

• make your property secure or allow the LA to board it up in an emergency or
• allow the LA to fence off the property.

 

• Empty dwelling management orders

The Housing Act 2004 allows the LA to take out an empty dwelling management order (EDMO) to make sure that your empty property is used for housing. The LA can make EDMOs on properties that have been empty for at least six months. There are two types of EDMO – interim and final. An interim EDMO lasts 12 months but a final EDMO can last up to seven, 14 or 21 years.
An EDMO allows the LA to:

• ‘step into your shoes’ if you own an unoccupied building and
• make sure that empty properties are occupied and managed properly.

The LA will bring the property back into use but you will still own it. They can take any costs to improve the property from the rents they receive when they let the property.

The Housing Act 2004 gives the LA new powers to make sure that properties are safe and suitable to live in. The powers may also apply to empty properties. These changes came into force in April 2006. For more information, see the Housing Act 2004 .

• Powers of entry – these allow the LA to enter a property to inspect it if you refuse to let the LA in (The LA have to give you at least 24 hours’ notice). If you stop a LA officer from getting in, the LA may get a warrant to enter from the courts. This allows them to force their way in if they have to.
• Power to require information – The LA can serve notices asking for certain information, for example, about who owns a property. This allows the LA to act to improve the property using the other powers described.
• Hazard-awareness notices – these will make sure that you or the person responsible is aware of a danger and the need to carry out repairs or alterations (Housing Act 2004) .
• Power to serve notices – the LA can serve improvement notices when work needs to be done to improve living conditions for occupiers or neighbours. The work the LA specifies, depends on the conditions they find and what the law allows them to do.
• Powers to enter a property and carry out work (emergency remedial action) – if you do not carry out work to the standard specified by a notice, the LA have the option of doing the work and charging you for it.
• Power to take over managing properties – there are a number of reasons why the LA may do this, including not being able to issue a licence or if a property has been empty for a long time (Housing Act 2004) .
• Power to close a property (prohibition order) – The LA would issue this notice only after they had carried out a detailed assessment to decide the best course of action to deal with a seriously substandard property. The LA might close a property where improvements are too expensive or the condition of the property is too bad to repair. The notice would mean that nobody could live in the property. (Housing Act 2004) .
• Power to order a property to be domolished or an area is cleared – this is done in similar circumstances to closing a property.