Bath & North East Somerset Council is marking National Empty Homes Week by encouraging property owners to return them to occupation.
The campaign, which runs until 9th March, highlights the environmental, economic and social benefits of bringing empty homes back into use, including the ability to help meet housing needs by boosting local housing supply in a low-carbon way.
The local authority is planning a pilot project to encourage, support and help the retrofit and installation of energy efficiency measures as part of its empty property reclamation work.
The aim is to increase the number of homes to meet the council’s Housing Plan for 2025-2030, to improve access to affordable and high-quality housing and to bring empty properties back into use.
Over the past year, 82 empty properties have been bought back into use thanks to the council’s Empty Properties Service, which offers advice and financial support to homeowners through loans, grants and VAT reduction.
Figures from last October showed that there were 843 properties that had been empty for more than six months, with 494 of those for more than a year.
Councillor Matt McCabe, cabinet member for built environment and sustainable development, said: “The council’s Empty Property Service offers a range of financial assistance and advice to owners of empty properties and National Empty Homes Week is a good opportunity to raise awareness of how we can help.
“With more than 1,000 empty homes in our area, bringing these properties back into use is a cost-effective way to address housing shortages without incurring the high financial costs of new developments.
“The pilot will build on the existing financial assistance offered to owners and encourage the retrofitting of empty properties, which will help support the council’s Climate Emergency aims.”
While there is no specific legislation preventing a property being left empty indefinitely if it is maintained to an acceptable standard and the Council Tax is paid, the ERPP allows council officers to take enforcement action if a property is having a negative impact on the neighbouring houses.
