Question from Councillor RC Jones to the Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Future Generations

“Many Members here will have an empty property in their ward and so will be aware of the frustration and distress endured by their constituents who find themselves living near an empty home. In this borough there are around 2,080 homes, many of them having been empty for over 5 years. It must be heart breaking to find yourself living near and empty property and to watch it deteriorate year after year – along with the value of your own property.

What schemes do BCBC have in place to bring long term empty properties back into domestic use and end this nightmare for local residents?”

QUESTION FROM COUNCILLOR RC JONES TO THE CABINET MEMBER FOR WELLBEING AND FUTURE GENERATIONS:

“Many Members here will have an empty property in their ward and so will be aware of the frustration and distress endured by their constituents who find themselves living near an empty home. In this borough there are around 2,080 homes, many of them having been empty for over 5 years. It must be heart breaking to find yourself living near and empty property and to watch it deteriorate year after year – along with the value of your own property. What schemes do BCBC have in place to bring long term empty properties back into domestic use and end this nightmare for local residents?”

Response from the Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Future Generations:

Where a property has been identified as being empty on the Authority’s empty property register, twice a year the Housing Service formally requests the owner to contact the Authority to discuss the assistance it can provide to bring the property back into use.  Currently the Authority has three types of grant or loan assistance to bring empty properties back into use through its Private Sector Housing Renewal and Disabled Adaptations Policy (latest version November 2016) - an Empty Homes Grant, an Empty Homes Loan and a Homes in Town Grant.

The principle method the Authority uses is a discretionary empty property grant to incentivise owners to return their properties into residential use.  As such, the majority of the terms and conditions are those that the Council seek to implement on the scheme.  It is particularly relevant as to who the property is allocated to on completion of the empty property grant.  The conditions imposed on owners of property in order to receive this grant are that:

The property must

• be over 10 years old and identified as being empty on the Authority’s empty property register (except for the conversion of non-residential units into residential units);
• be considered, in the Authority’s opinion, to be suitable for social letting at time of application;
• be free from Category 1 hazards on completion of works;
• be rented on completion of works, at the rate of the local housing allowance, and be available for nomination by the  Authority or their appointed agent for a period of 3 years; 
• not be the subject of a demolition order under the Housing Acts; and
• not have received assistance for the same works during the previous 10 year period.

The level of assistance available to applicants is;

• Up to £10,000 per unit for a like for like conversion;
• Up to £15,000 per unit for a conversion into more units; or
• Up to £9,000 per unit for a conversion into shared units.

In addition, BCBC also operate a Welsh Government empty property loan scheme (Houses into Homes), this does not have the same restrictions on allocation.  Each applicant can receive up to £25,000 per unit (up to a maximum of £150,000).  This loan is interest free and aimed at bringing empty properties into use for the applicant to either sell on or to rent on the open market.  As such the loan is repayable within 2 years or on actual sale of the property (whichever is shorter), or within 3 years if the property is to be rented.  This loan money is then recycled into bringing more properties back into use. 

The third incentive is the Homes in Town Grant. This grant shares many similarities to the Empty Property Grant but is specifically targeted at Bridgend Town centre and immediate surroundings, to bring empty units/empty space above commercial and retail units into residential use.  To reflect that the work to these properties can be more complex and have more restriction (such as the need for specialist reports and works – such as acoustic surveys), a maximum grant of £30,000 per unit is allowable to undertake the works.

Fuller details of each of these incentives can be found on the Council website on the following link http://www.bridgend.gov.uk/media/325220/private-sector-housing-renewal-policy-november-2016.pdf

These measures are incentives to empty property owners and whilst every encouragement is given, all are voluntary schemes.

This non engagement can be for a number of reasons and unless the property is a public nuisance (as indicated in the Planning and Housing Acts) the powers of the Authority are extremely limited. At time sof public safety the Authority is able to undertake works and seek re-imbursement from the owner. When not paid, a debt action can be commenced through the courts. Ultimately this may result in an order of sale however; the owner is able to pay the debt at any point in the proceedings to stop the sale.

The council’s regeneration service works with property owners in town centres, to encourage the conversion and re-use of empty commercial properties.  Through the Townscape Heritage Initiative, buildings in Maesteg, Bridgend and Porthcawl have been brought back into use, for commercial and housing purposes.  This work is largely resourced through external funding, and Bridgend CBC has now benefitted from more THI schemes that than any other local authority in the UK except Glasgow, with whom we are on a par.

The service also plays a brokerage role, bringing empty properties to the attention potential developers, and proactively assisting in overcoming  developing constraints.

Supplementary question from Councillor RC Jones:

Whilst I applaud BCBC for these generous financial incentives, empty homes continue to exist. Currently over half of the 2080 empty properties in the borough are eligible to pay council tax. So, if these schemes are not fully resolving the problem, will BCBC consider taking action under the new powers introduced by the Welsh Government almost a year ago? Other Welsh Councils have already used these powers to impose council tax premiums on long term empty properties, will BCBC consider doing the same?

Response from the Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer:

As of December, there were a little over 2000 empty homes, with around 1,100 of these not in receipt of an empty home exemption. There has been a reduction of about 5% over the course of the last year.

Of those not in receipt of a valid exemption, only around 1/3 are what we would classify as long term empty – two years or more.

While I am aware of the new legislation and that we would of course welcome new powers, I do have some concerns over the practical implementations.

The first is over whether it would have the desired policy impact – properties deemed not fit for habitation are exempt, and therefore a surcharge might not deal with the “eyesore” properties

The second is over the difficulty in policing and enforcement. Long term empties can often be the ones where the council, despite our enforcement powers, has difficulties in recovering the debt, so adding a surcharge might just increase the level of that debt. My other concern would be in relation to fraud – so the risk that owners would claim the property was occupied when it wasn’t, and it could be relatively onerous and costly for the council to police this.

I am aware that there have been articles in the press about other councils implementation, though equally I am also aware that some of those councils have chosen not to implement the policy when they have worked through some of the detail I have described.

The Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Future Generations added that Cabinet would look into the new legislation and its powers further, and introduce any necessary policy to impose council tax premiums on long term empty properties should this be feasible as well as practicably workable.

Second supplementary question from Councillor D Patel

Can we have a further update to Council in respect of the outcome of the above supplementary question/response.

Response from the Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Future Generations

Yes, and also to the appropriate Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Cabinet Member Social Services and Early Help added that there was nothing more demoralising to see empty properties falling into a state of disrepair, particularly for residents living within that vicinity. He further added that the Authority made a loss of approximately £1.2m annually in respect of empty properties and non-payment of Council Tax.