Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what action the Government has taken to bring back into use long-term empty properties.

Brandon Lewis

The number of long term empty homes is at its lowest since records began. Over the last Parliament, the Government provided the right tools and incentives to tackle empty properties.

• Through the New Homes Bonus, local authorities earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. Since April 2011 almost £3.4 billion has been paid in recognition of the delivery of over 700,000 homes, plus over 100,000 long-term empty properties brought back into use. 75 per cent of local authorities are financially better off in 2014-15 than if New Homes Bonus scheme didn’t exist.
• We made changes through the Local Government Finance Act 1992 so local authorities can charge up to 150% council tax for homes empty for over two years.
• We extended permitted development rights to make it easier to convert property from business to residential to give new life to thousands of empty buildings.
• We amended Empty Dwelling Management Orders to ensure they are only used to tackle the most problematic empty homes.
• We provided £216 million direct funding to local authorities, registered providers and community groups between 2012- 2015 to help tackle the problem of empty homes and properties. This funding created 9,044 homes from empty properties.