Empty Property: Private Sector

(asked on 5th June 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of empty privately owned homes.


Answered by
Dominic Raab Portrait
Dominic Raab
This question was answered on 11th June 2018

We continue to support local authorities to encourage efficient use of our existing stock, making best use of homes that have been empty. Local authorities have powers and incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus, they earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one.

The Ratings (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill will permit a charge of up to 200 per cent of normal council tax on properties that have been empty for two years or more, instead of the current limit of 150 per cent.

Great progress has been made in recent years and the number of empty homes stands at its lowest since records began. At May 2010, over 300,000 homes in England had been standing empty for longer than 6 months. As of October 2017, the number of long term empty properties had fallen to 205,293

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