National Empty Homes Week 2022 Case Study:

Turning Empty Houses into Homes with Central Bedfordshire Council’s Senior Technical Officer Janice Edmond

Janice explains the CBC approach:

Who wants to live next door to an empty home?  Complaints we receive from neighbours clearly show how these properties make people feel and tell us what damage they do to our neighbourhoods.  We also know if you live next door to an empty home, the value of your home may be reduced, and your home could be more difficult to sell.

 

The negative effect on people and neighbourhoods, of anti-social behaviour, of vandalism and the condition of the house itself are the reasons Central Bedfordshire Council takes the issue so seriously.

 

Like many local authorities CBC has developed policies to deal with empty homes and to bring them back into use.

 

At Central Bedfordshire Council we have made it easy to report empty homes for those concerned or affected by them;

 

and we prioritise the help we offer to owners by:

• Offering financial assistance and technical guidance
• Offering to purchase long term empty homes
• Offering to refurbish and manage long term empty homes for owners under the terms of an empty dwelling management order

However, where all help is rejected, and the property remains empty CBC takes enforcement action using compulsory purchase powers and empty dwelling management order powers, and whilst this is the option of last resort CBC has been able to transform neighbourhoods blighted by homes empty for many years, some empty for 30 years.

 

Enforcement action includes an opportunity to improve the thermal properties of the empty home through insulation, through installing low energy lighting and modern controllable heating and hot water systems helping to future proof refurbished homes making them more energy efficient.

 

A showcase of some of the homes brought back into use through our Empty Dwelling Management Orders are below, see for yourself how improved our neighbourhoods have become.

 

Compulsory Purchase Order  – Home empty 30 years

 

    Now brought back to use: 

 

Empty Dwelling Management Order turning this………. to this

  Now brought back to use: 

 

Empty Dwelling Management Order turning this………. to this

  Now brought back to use: 

  

Empty Dwelling Management Order turning this………. to this

  Now brought back to use: 

     

Empty Dwelling Management Order turning this………. to this

 Now brought back to use: 

 

For further information on EDMOs see our Legal Toolkit 

For a discussion of the limitations of the EDMO power see this blog  CLICK HERE