Empty Homes Strategy: Scarborough Borough Council

2011 - 2015

Initial draft: November 2010

1.0 Introduction and Background

This document represents the Empty Homes strategy for Scarborough

Borough Council for the period 2011-14. The strategy outlines the current
situation in respect of empty homes in Scarborough and the measures and
Action Plan which are to be put in place in order to tackle the problem of
empty homes in the Borough.

Empty homes represent a significant waste of valuable housing

accommodation. This is especially pressing at a time of both a severe
affordable housing shortage in the Borough and low rates of new housing
completion.

Each vacant dwelling which can be brought back into residential use
represents a gain to the housing stock of the Borough. Vacant dwellings also
often have seriously detrimental effects upon the condition and value of
adjoining properties and on the amenities of the neighbourhood in which they
are situated. Usually, the longer dwellings have remained vacant, the greater
their disrepair, the more the risk of vandalism and other misuse and the
greater the harmful impact on the neighbourhood.

2.0 Current situation in Scarborough

The number of empty homes within Scarborough Borough Council amounted

to 1,869 in 2009, which represents approximately 3.4% of the total housing
stock. 702 of these had been empty for longer than 6 months, representing
about 1.25% of the total household stock and 37.5% of the number of empty
homes.

The vast majority of the empty homes are within the private sector. There are
fewer than 100 empty homes within the social housing sector, of which a very
limited number have been empty for longer than 6 months.

The number of empty homes in the Borough has significantly decreased since
2000 when there were over 3,000 empty homes. The figures below illustrate
the year on year change since 2000.

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005* 2006 2007 2008 2009
3225 3166 3276 3178 4064 2145 1685 1828 2058 1869
Note that from 2005, sampling of empty homes has been undertaken, which has resulted
in greater accuracy. Prior to 2005 it is understood that a large amount of holiday homes
had been included in the figure.

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The number of vacant homes within the Borough is lower than the regional
figure for Yorkshire and the Humber, but higher than the national average.
However, the proportion of homes which have empty for longer than 6 months
in the Borough is lower than both the regional and the national figure.

Total number % of total Number % of total % of empty

Empty stock empty empty longer stock empty stock empty
Homes 2009 than 6 longer than 6 longer than 6
months months months
Scarborough 1869 3.4% 702 1.25% 37.5%
Yorkshire 90768 4.0% 42566 1.87% 46.9%
and Humber
England 651993 2.8% 307001 1.36% 47.1%

3.0 Strategic Context

3.1 Communities and Local Government (CLG)

In the Comprehensive Spending Review statement in October 2010, the

Government have pledged to commit £100 million nationally over the next 3
years to tackling the problem of empty homes. This would be part of the
National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP). This will be made available
for Registered Social Landlords (RSL’s) to bring back empty homes into use
on a leasehold basis and using the recently proposed “affordable” rent model.

It should be pointed out that the overall programme will probably translate to a
lower amount for the Council in comparison with previous funding through the
Regional Pot for Private Sector Housing work.

3.1.1 New Homes Bonus

The Government are proposing a New Homes Bonus to act as an incentive

for local authorities to increase housing supply. The proposal acts on the
basis of awarding grant based on average council tax for a period of up to 6
years on each additional new home created within a local authority area. The
incentive also applies to bringing empty properties back into use. However,
the incentive is based on achieving a net reduction in the number of empty
homes within a local authority area. Should there be a net increase in the
number of empty homes, then this will reduce the amount of grant that would
be awarded through the New Homes Bonus.

In effect, the New Homes Bonus will mean that Local Authorities will need to
give greater strategic importance to tackling the problem of empty homes and
brining empty homes back into use.

3.1.2 Empty Homes Capacity Building Programme

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) developed a Capacity Building

Programme (CBP) in 2010, which was established following the allocation of

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£1m from the CLG to provide extra support for 17 local authorities¹ to drive
efforts to get more empty homes back into use.

The year-long programme will deliver bespoke skills, knowledge support and
training for 17 local authorities, and a one-day training programme for 60 local
authorities. Whilst Scarborough is not one of the local authorities involved in
the programme, the HCA also intend to produce the following tools, which will
be made available to all local authorities:

• An E-learning module
• An empty homes toolkit
• GIS mapping of long-term empty homes

3.1.3 On-line debate

As part of the programme the HCA also hosted an online debate - How to
Maximise the Use of Empty Homes? The debate ran until 31 August 2010 and
explored new ways to help bring more private sector homes back into use in
the current economic climate.
The Empty Homes debate summary report (PDF - 181Kb) draws together
how the posts highlighted the key challenges that local authorities face. The
report also showcases contributions that describe innovative practice and
practical solutions..

3.2 North Yorkshire Housing Strategy 2010 - 2015:

Within the Strategy bringing back into use empty properties in the sub-region
is seen as a key element of the strategic priority “Enabling the provision of
more affordable homes”. The development and implementation of a sub-
regional empty property strategy is a key action in the strategy action plan
with a target date of December 2010 for adoption.

3.3 Scarborough Local Housing Strategy Action Plan: 2010 – 2014:

Objective 2 of the local action plan: “Improving the condition of housing in the
Borough” contains a key target of “Bring empty homes back into use and
refresh empty homes strategy”. The plan sets a target of 25 empty homes per
year to be brought back into use in the Borough over the next 4 years.

Over the previous 5 years, a total of 84 empty homes had been brought back
into use in the Borough, representing an average of only 17 homes per year
brought back into use.

4.0 Measures

The Council have traditionally used a mix of enforcement action on empty

properties where a particular nuisance has been identified plus the use of
various grants to owners and landlords, including registered social landlords,
in order to bring empty properties back into use.

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This approach has met with some degree of success, however the current
public sector financial situation means that financial resources will become
more limited and priority will need to be given to measures, which are more
cost effective and less grant dependent. Whilst the current Government has
recently announced that £100 million will be made available for empty homes
over the next 3 years, it is envisaged that only a small amount would be
available for individual local authorities.

Despite this the Council is proposing to take a proactive approach to tacking

the problem of empty homes in the Borough through a package of measures,
which will comprise of the following:

• Targeting of specific empty homes to bring back into use

• Employment of a Private Sector Housing Link /Empty Homes Officer to

specifically tackle empty homes

• Provision of advice and guidance, including web based information

• Enforcement Action where deemed necessary

• Grant Incentives (where this is available)

The overall approach of the Council will be to utilise a package of measures,

which will enable us use the most appropriate means to tackle individual
empty properties within the Borough.

4.1 Targeting of specific empty homes to bring back into use

With almost 2000 empty homes throughout the Borough consideration needs
to be given to both prioritising and targeting of specific empty properties,
which will both maximise resources and impact. Whilst one of the main
priorities will be to reduce the number of longer term vacant dwellings in the
Borough (702 empty for longer than 6 months), the Council will be
undertaking a survey of empty homes owners in order to identify the reasons
why the property is empty. Understanding the reasons why specific properties
are empty will enable the Council to prioritise properties and undertake
specific actions in relation to specific problems.

4.2 Employment of a Private Sector Housing Link/Empty Homes

Officer

In order to take a more proactive approach to reducing the number of empty

homes in the Borough, the provision of a dedicated Empty Homes Officer is
seen as imperative to achieve this aim. Evidence from other Local Authorities
has shown that the provision of a dedicated resource has had a considerable
impact on reducing empty homes within their locality.

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We have identified a number of specific tasks that the Empty Homes Officer
can undertake in relation to tackling the problem of empty homes including the
following:

• Working closely with owners of empty homes to assist them in bringing

their property back into use, including provision of advice, guidance
and various options.

• Maintaining an active database of empty properties in the private

sector and both tracking and taking appropriate action to bring them
back into use.

• Identify empty homes and their owners

• Acting as the key point of contact for any enquiries from the public
about empty properties including the reporting of empty homes

• Publishing information and raising awareness of empty homes to the

public, owners, agencies and other key stakeholders

4.3 Provision of advice and guidance

The provision of the right advice and guidance to both owners of empty
properties and to members of the public and stakeholders is an essential but
often overlooked tool used to reduce the number of empty homes. In a
significant number of cases, it is often the provision of the correct advice and
guidance, which will put a property on the first steps towards being brought
back into use. This is often the case with properties where the owner may be
considering renovation of the property or has inherited a property and is
unsure what to do with it.

One of the key roles of the Empty Homes Officer will be to provide advice and
guidance through a number of means and methods and to also publicise and
raise awareness of the various options for bringing empty properties back into
use.

4.4 Enforcement Action

The Council has at it’s disposal a number of range of enforcement tools that it
can use in order to improve or bring empty properties back into use. A
summary of these is outlined below:

Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO): EDMO’s were introduced by

the Housing Act 2004 and can be used by local authorities to bring back into
use a property which has been empty for longer than 6 months and the owner
has refused all reasonable offers of assistance.

Enforced Sale: Where a local land charge has been made on a long term
empty property, the council can force the sale of the property to a third party.

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Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO): The threat and use of CPO’s can be
utilised where a property is long term empty, in poor condition and in an area
of housing need. CPO’s would normally only be considered as a last resort
where all other measures would not be effective and where the property
requires extensive renovation.

Town and Country Planning Act 1990: Local Authorities have planning
powers to take control of land they need to put in place their community
strategies and local development documents. These planning powers are
wide enough to allow us to take over land for redevelopment.

Environmental Protection Act 1990: Statutory Nuisance: We can order

owners to make their property safe or we can take emergency action to make
the building safe.

Building Act 1984: Dangerous or dilapidated buildings or structures:

We can order owners to make the property safe or we can take emergency
action to make the building safe.

It should be pointed out that taking enforcement action can often prove very
costly, especially in the case of EDMO and CPO action. Given the short term
lack of available capital funding, the Council will only undertake specific
actions such as EDMO and CPO in the most extreme circumstances.

4.4 Grant Incentives

The Council has up to recently had access to limited capital funding to make
available to private landlords owners for renovation and/or conversion of
empty homes. Given the new financial climate that the Council is forced to
operate in, there is unlikely to be any such capital funding available to private
landlords and other owners for such works over the next 3-4 years.

However, the Council is looking to invest some of it’s own capital funds into
bringing some empty properties into use as a means of providing new
temporary accommodation for homeless persons. This will done via RSL’s
who will also take on the responsibility of managing the accommodation. The
intention is for grant funding of up to £50K per unit to be provided to RSL’s,
which they will match fund at 50% of the total cost.

5.0 Finance and Funding

It is recognised that public sector funding will be severely limited over the next
few years and this will limit any potential grant provision to bring empty homes
back into use. As previously mentioned the Government has earmarked £100
million nationally specifically towards empty homes, the details of which will
probably become more clear in early 2011. However, this will be through the
HCA’s National Affordable Housing Programme.

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6.0 Action Plan

Key Action How will this be undertaken Date

Empty Homes Initial draft November 2010
Strategy
Formal consultation December 2010
–March 2011

31 January
Report to Overview and Scrutiny 2011
Committee (projects and
Partnerships)

Final draft March 2011

Cabinet approval and formal adoption March 2011

Undertake Empty In-house survey to be conducted of November 2010
Homes Survey owners of all empty properties – January 2011
Empty Homes Contract extended to March 2012 Completed
Officer
Advice and Landlords Forums: Focus of one Annual
Guidance/ forum per year on empty homes
Information and
Publicity Develop specific pages on SBC January 2011
website within Housing pages

Empty Properties Leaflet December 2010

Press releases On-going

Empty Property Develop Empty Property database to From January
Database monitor empty properties following 2011
completion of survey
Partnership Establish formal liaison with key January –
Working internal partners: Finance, Council March 2011
Tax, Legal

External Partnership Working: Close On-going

liaison with RSL’s on identification of
suitable properties into conversion into
temporary accommodation

Landlords Forum
Long term vacant Following survey identify actions for From January
properties individual long term empty properties 2011

Monitor individual long term empty From January

properties 2011
Specific targets Bring back 25 empty homes back into On-going
use per annum

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