What is an empty home?
An empty home is any privately owned residential property that has remained unoccupied and unfurnished for at least 6 months. It does not include holiday homes, second homes or properties which are empty due to the owner being in care.
How to report an empty home
If you know of a long term empty home, you can report it to us using our online portal:
Some properties may appear empty, run down and in tired looking condition when in fact they are occupied.
Complaints about run down homes
If the property is so run down you feel it is not in keeping with the rest of the neighbouring properties and is having a detrimental effect on the local area. You can complete our online Planning Enforcement Complaint eform and it will be investigated by the relevant officer.
Finding an empty home
If you are interested in finding an empty home to buy or rent, either for your own use, to rent out or to develop and sell. You could search for a property by:
- looking around the area that you want to buy
- contacting local agents and auctioneers
- putting a note through the door
- making a land registrysearch to find out who the owners are (the information held may not be up to date)
- checking planning applicationsfor owner or agent details
As a council we contact empty home owners directly with the information provided to us on a monthly basis by the council tax team.The information provided by the council tax team cannot be shared with members of the public due to GDPR.
Owners of empty homes
Empty Homes Financial Assistance Scheme
To encourage owners of empty homes to bring their properties back into use we are offering the following financial assistance, either:
