Empty Homes

The Housing Act 2004 gives Local Authorities new powers that allow them to take over the management of properties where they have been left empty.

The legislation is about properties left empty for more significant periods of time. This may be for several different reasons, but it is usually to do with problems that make them difficult or impossible to occupy.

The Housing Act 2004 legislation means that local authorities have the power to use Empty Dwelling Management orders (EDMOs) to take over the management of homes that have been empty for a long time.

Shelter’s website contains comprehensive information about these new powers.

Often homes are left empty for relatively short time periods e.g. if they are being bought, sold or renovated or in some other ‘transactional’ state. At any given time more than half of homes that are empty are transactional. Policies and strategies about empty homes do not target these properties.

There are approximately 680,000 empty homes in England. Of these there were 84,205 empty homes in London in 2006. Most empty properties are privately owned – in London this figure was 69,485 in 2006.

While many are left unoccupied for short periods, more than half are empty for longer than six months and a lot have been unoccupied for many years – falling further and further into disrepair and becoming increasingly expensive to renovate. 

Bringing empty homes back into use makes sense in many ways. It can help meet housing demand, reduce the need to build new homes, and even tackle homelessness.

For more information about bringing empty homes back into use visit:

• The Empty Homes Agency website. EHA is a charity which works across England to highlight the issue of empty homes, and to promote solutions.
• Shelter website’s empty homes policy section
  
• As Communities and Local Government are the government department responsible for the housing stock in England, empty homes falls within their policy remit. Visit the empty homes section of their website.