Empty Homes Policy

3.1 Under the ‘Homes to be proud of’ priority in the Council’s Corporate Priorities 2024-2026; bringing empty homes back into use is a part of the ambition to:

• high quality homes for all

Under the ‘Together, create opportunities for our communities’ priority in the Council’s Corporate Priorities 2024-2026; bringing empty homes back into use is a part of the ambition to:

• help us feel safer where we live

3.2 The overall aim of the policy is to enable us to use the powers available to us:

• to tackle owners who fail to maintain their empty homes and pose detriment to the community.
• reducing the number of empty properties across the Borough wherever possible.
• increase the supply of available housing to help meet housing need.

3.3 It is important to note that Government policy does not allow the reduction of empty properties to be counted as a contributor to meeting the borough's housing targets, although they do count towards attracting funding under the New Homes Bonus grant.