Most Empty Homes Are In The North

We are used to seeing stories about empty homes in London, particularly empty homes bought by wealthy investors who leave them unoccupied. But these sorts of empty properties are not the biggest issue. Research by the Empty Homes campaigning charity shows that London actually has the lowest proportion of in England with 0.56% of homes in the capital officially described as empty. That’s not to say there isn’t a problem with empty homes in the capital, but we need to be careful not to allow a London lens to distort the bigger picture. Download a copy of the research from the Empty Homes website.

http://www.emptyhomes.com/assets/ehe_2017_final.pdf

Empty Homes Taken Over By Councils

A region with one of the highest proportions of empty homes in England has started refurbishing them to tackle a housing shortage. More than 40,000 properties in the North East - 3.8% of the area's housing stock - are empty, compared with more than 600,000 nationally. Twelve councils in the region have formed a group to reduce the number. Properties have been left empty because of negative equity, unaffordable repairs, inheritance and a growing private rented sector, the councils said. More than 200,000 homes in England - and 20,00 in the North East - have been unoccupied for longer than six months. Read more on the BBC website.

The Bedroom Tax on Bereavement

Families will be hit by the bedroom tax if a room remains unoccupied for just three months after the death of a family member, bereavement charities have warned. There have already been several cases of families in social housing told that rooms left “spare” after the death of a child or other family member will become subject to the controversial spare room subsidy. Currently households are given 52 weeks before they are reassessed, to allow them to decide whether to move or to re-occupy the room before they incur cuts to their housing benefit. But under Universal Credit scheme the stay of grace is to be cut to just three months, the National Bereavement Alliance (NBA) said. Read more on the Independent website.

Housing Benefit Removal Regulations Upheld By Judges

It is lawful to discriminate against tenants with disabilities by removing their housing benefit if their home is left unoccupied for more than a year, top judges have ruled. Three tenants with mental health issues challenged regulations which say benefits will be withdrawn if their properties are left unoccupied for more than 52 weeks. They all had their benefits stopped under the regulations when they were detained in hospital as a result of their conditions. Their case was first rejected in the Upper Tier Tribunal when judges ruled that while the regulations did discriminate, the discrimination was justified. Read more on Inside Housing.

Council Seizes Dozens of Illegally Occupied Properties

A London council successfully recovered 71 properties which were either unoccupied or illegally occupied during 2013. In November alone, Newham Council took possession of 11 properties, two of which were recovered through court orders and nine which were retrieved through proactive casework by council officers. The local authority says that the reclaimed homes have now been made available for people on its housing waiting list. Read more on the Newham Council website.

100,000 Unoccupied Homes across Yorkshire

The Housing Crisis is a political and social problem that has set the agenda for many a political debate over the last few years, and so it may surprise some readers in Yorkshire that a survey carried out by Endsleigh Insurance found that there are nearly 100,000 unoccupied yet perfectly habitable homes across Yorkshire and the Humber alone. On a wider scale, the UK as a whole has an astounding 693,920 habitable yet vacant homes, which amounts to £115 billion in locked away value, or in more palpable terms, more than 8% of Britain’s £1.4 trillion debt.  Read more on the propertyreporter website. 

Government Resists Calls to Clarify 'Temporary Absences' In New Subletting Law

The Government is pressing ahead with plans to criminalise subletting but only where the tenant no longer lives in the property or has given up possession.  It has shied away from "prescribing more closely" circumstances of temporary non-occupation - e.g. where a tenant moves temporarily to care for a relative or at the other extreme, moves in with a partner. Its subletting plans were outlined in a summary of responses from the consultation, which closed in April.  The CLG said it wanted to avoid creating new criminal offences when existing criminal sanctions may already be available.  Download a copy of the consultation response from the CLG website.