The number of empty properties in Wolverhampton has fallen by a quarter in the last few years – thanks to a crackdown by housing officers (Photos on Flickr).
 |
| [relatedPosts title=”Related Posts”] |
|
|
It follows the launch of the city’s Empty Property Strategy which, for the first time, has allowed the council to take a number of measures aimed at getting empty properties back into use.
With homes which have been empty for six months or more said to knock up to 30% off the value of neighbouring properties, officers are working closely with owners and landlords in an attempt to get them occupied again.
Last year 323 previously empty homes were brought back into use, including one in Links Road, Penn, which stood empty for more than a decade and had been filled from floor to ceiling with rubbish by the owner.
Lesley Williams, Wolverhampton City Council’s Private Sector Housing Service Manager, said: “The house was dilapidated and quite literally falling down when fed up residents approached the council for help.
“We traced the owner but he would not engage with us and so we began the Compulsory Purchase process, which would have led to us taking the property and selling it on to someone else to bring it back into use. When the owner realised that we would take this action, he asked us to sell it on his behalf.”
The property sold at auction and its new owner has both extended and completely renovated the property to a very high standard.
Other successes have been seen at locations across the city, including an empty Haden Hill property which had been broken into and vandalised. After it was acquired through a Compulsory Purchase Order, it was sold at auction, subsequently refurbished and is now occupied.
The Private Sector Housing team aims to bring around 200 properties back into use every year and, as a result, the number of long-term empty homes in the city has fallen from 2,600 in 2004 to 1,800 today.
Team members offer advice and assistance to homeowners and landlords, and where they are unwilling to accept the help and support on offer, a number of steps can be taken.
Depending on what course of action is deemed the best for the particular situation, these can include an enforced sale, with the council’s costs recovered through the sale of the purchase, an Empty Dwelling Management Order which gives owners and landlords a checklist of improvements to carry out, or – as a last resort – a Compulsory Purchase Order.
Councillor Peter Bilson, Wolverhampton City Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Prosperity, said: “The Private Sector Housing team are doing a great job in bringing empty properties back into use in the city, and I know that residents who live near these homes are delighted with the action that we as a council are taking.
“Empty properties are not only a blight on the neighbourhood but they are a waste of valuable resources. Wolverhampton has a shortage of homes at present and so we are obviously keen to make better use of as many of the 1,800 or properties which have been empty for six months or more as we can.”
The city’s success has seen an increase in funding from Central Government which match funds the additional Council Tax raised from empty properties which have been brought back into use.
Councillor Bilson added: “This is a welcome boost and we’re developing proposals to use this additional money to offer special low cost loans to enable people to bring empty properties back into use for much-needed housing, which is in line with our overall objective of improving the housing offer across the city.
“We aim to provide a wider range of better quality homes across the city, and whether new buildings or refurbishment, this will have a positive impact on local job opportunities.”
