Long Term Empty Properties
Case reference FOI2019/00560
Published 5 July 2019
Request
1) Can the council confirm their current number of Long Term Empty Domestic Properties as of the 13th May (those properties which have been empty for six months or older)
2) What work is the council currently undertaking or planning to undertake around reducing their long term empty properties in 2019?
3) During 2018 did you undertake any work around reducing your Long Term Empty Properties. If you did was this done using internal resource or a third party?
4) If yes is the answer to question three, did the council review every single long term property
5) Does the reduction of empty homes in the council area form part of your Housing strategy?
6) Does the council have a budget in place to help support the reduction of empty properties?
7) How much did the council spend on temporary accommodation during 2018?
8) Does the council offer financial support /loans to Long Term Empty property owners to help them bring properties back into use?
Response
1) I can the council confirm their current number of Long Term Empty Domestic Properties as of the 13th May (those properties which have been empty for six months or older) 559
2) What work is the council currently undertaking or planning to undertake around reducing their long term empty properties in 2019?
We allocate part of our total resources to identify empty properties, target owners, publicise help available.
We have an empty property strategy which seeks reduce the number of empty homes .
In detail measures include
- Direct mailing to empty property owners
- Advice on letting properties
- Grants and loans to renovate properties
- Use of legislation to apply Empty Dwelling Management Orders
- Field work to identify individual empty properties
- Liaison with portfolio owners to influence return of empty properties
3) During 2018 did you undertake any work around reducing your Long Term Empty Properties. If you did was this done using internal resource or a third party?
- we use internal resources and also recruit additional temporary staff when necessary to deliver 1 above.
4) If yes is the answer to question three, did the council review every single long term property
- we review every long term property > two years but the frequency may demand on our prior knowledge of the house.
5) Does the reduction of empty homes in the council area form part of your Housing strategy? yes
6) Does the council have a budget in place to help support the reduction of empty properties?
- We have made financial provision within our grants programme and a proportion of staff resources within the private sector team is allocated to empty homes work.
7) How much did the council spend on temporary accommodation during 2018? This information is not available
8) Does the council offer financial support /loans to Long Term Empty property owners to help them bring properties back into use?Yes details on our web site.
Documents
This is Guildford Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.