Bringing empty homes back into use: audit of privately owned empty homes

Appendix 2: Empty homeowner survey questionnaire

Survey of owners of empty homes

Introduction

The Scottish Government has appointed Indigo House, in collaboration with IBP Strategy and Research, to undertake an independent Empty Homes Audit, which will set out the scale of the problem and consider how long-term empty homes can be brought back into use.

This questionnaire is being issued to you as the relevant Local Authority is aware that you have, or have had, an empty property in the past. This survey seeks input from owners of empty homes including: the extent and profile of long-term empty homes; your experience as an empty home owner; your views on the barriers to bringing long-term empty homes back into use; and your views on possible approaches to doing so. This information will be used by the Scottish

Government to consider how it can best meet the commitments on empty homes set out within its "Housing to 2040" Strategy.

The information that you provide will be held on secure servers by IBP Strategy and Research and Indigo House Group and will be shared between these parties using an encrypted and password protected method. All copies of the data you provide will be deleted or destroyed when no longer needed for the purposes of this specific study.

Your responses to closed and numerical questions will be used only in aggregate for the purposes of statistical research and no information about your individual response will be passed on to the Scottish Government, the local authority or any other party. Your write-in comments may be used in the preparation of published reports but will not be attributed to yourself. However, you should note that the nature of any comments you make could potentially identify you and you should be aware of this in making any such comments.

Participation in this survey is voluntary. You can also withdraw from participation in the survey at any time prior to 31st March 2023. To do so, please contact Jason Brown at IBP Strategy & Research.

The findings of the overall study will be shared with the Local Authority in due course by the Scottish Government and the independent Audit will be published later in 2023.

Please answer as many questions as you can but if there are any questions that you are not able to answer, or don't wish to answer, please just move on to the next question.

Should you have any questions before consenting to take part in the survey, please contact Jason Brown at IBP Strategy & Research.

By selecting the button below to continue with the survey you confirm your understanding of the purpose of the survey and consent to have the response you provide used in the above way.

1. Your empty home(s)

For the purposes of this survey, "long-term empty homes" are privately owned residential properties that have not been occupied for a period of 6 months or more. For the questions in this section, you are asked to provide information both for homes that are currently empty and also homes that you owned which would have met this definition at some point over the past 5 years, but which are either now occupied, changed in use or demolished.

Q1.1 How many long-term empty homes do you have and / or have you had in the past 5 years, in each of the following Local Authority areas? Please only answer for areas where you have long-term empty homes. Otherwise, leave blank.

Aberdeen City Council

Aberdeenshire Council

Angus Council

Argyll and Bute Council

City of Edinburgh Council

Clackmannanshire Council

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Dumfries and Galloway Council

Dundee City Council

East Ayrshire Council

East Dunbartonshire Council

East Lothian Council

East Renfrewshire Council

Falkirk Council

Fife Council

Glasgow City Council

Highland Council

Inverclyde Council

Midlothian Council

Moray Council

North Ayrshire Council

North Lanarkshire Council

Orkney Council

Perth and Kinross Council

Renfrewshire Council

Scottish Borders Council

Shetland Islands Council

South Ayrshire Council

South Lanarkshire Council

Stirling Council

West Dunbartonshire Council

West Lothian Council

Q1.2 Do you currently have at least one long-term empty home (defined as a residential home that has not been occupied for a period of 6 months or more)? Yes

No

Q1.3 How many long-term empty homes that you have currently fall into the following categories in relation to their current condition?

Ready for occupation with little or no investment

Requires some investment to make ready for occupation

Requires significant investment to make ready for occupation

Q1.4 Please give brief reasons why any homes that you have are currently long-term empty.

2. Bringing homes back into use

Q2.1 Over the last 5 years, have you had at least one long-term empty property (defined as a residential home that has not been occupied for a period of 6 months or more) that no longer meets the definition of a long-term empty property?

Yes

No

Q2.2 What happened with this home or homes? Please select all that apply, should you have had more than one home in this category.

Sold without improvements having been made ready for occupation

Made ready for occupation and then occupied by yourself / your household

Made ready for occupation and then sold

Made ready for occupation and then rented out

The home was demolished

The use of the home was changed (please state what the use of the home was changed to)

Other (please give details below)

What the use of the home was changed to

Other

Q2.3a Have you been subject to any enforcement actions to require you to do something about a long-term empty home?

Yes

No

Q2.3b Please give brief details of these enforcement actions in the space below.

Q2.3c What were your views as to how this enforcement action was undertaken?

Q.2.4 What happened with this home or homes? Please select all that apply, should you

have had more than one home in this category.

Sold without improvements having been made ready for occupation

Made ready for occupation and then occupied by yourself / your household

Made ready for occupation and then sold

Made ready for occupation and then rented out

The home was demolished

The use of the home was changed (please state what the use of the home was changed to)

Other (please give details below)

Q2.5 How satisfied or dissatisfied have you been with the support provided to you to help you bring any long-term empty homes back into use?

Very Satisfied

Quite Satisfied

Neither Satisfied Nor Dissatisfied

Quite Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied

Q2.5b Please give brief reasons for your answer in the space below.

Q2.6 For any long-term empty homes that you have currently, please give brief details of your current plans for those properties in the space below.

Q2.7 On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is "not an issue" and 5 is a "significant issue", to what extent have you found each of the following to be barriers to you bringing a long-term empty home back into use?

Financial barriers - for example, not being willing or able to commit sufficient financial resources

Practical reasons such as repairs refurbishment taking longer than planned

Housing market factors making investment in empty homes unviable

Personal reasons - for example, your emotional attachment to property, other personal circumstances

Q2.8 Please use the space below to comment on any other barriers that you have found to bringing a long-term empty home back into use.

3. Areas for improvement

Q3.1 From your experience, to what extent do you think improvements in each of the

following would have an impact on bringing long-term empty homes back into use? Please answer on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is "no impact" and 5 is "a significant impact".

More support from the local authority Empty Homes Officer

More support from other local authority services (not the Empty Homes Officer)

Enhanced financial support to owners to bring long-term empty homes back into use

Enhanced enforcement action against owners

Enhanced support from local community groups such as community action groups, community councils and development trusts, to help bring long-term empty homes back into use

Other (please describe below)

Q3.2 Please use the space below to set out any suggestions for improvements you would like to make that you think would help to bring more long-term empty homes into use, whether in relation to the themes in Question 3.1 or more generally.

4. Further contact

As part of the study, we intend to undertake further in-depth interviews with existing and previous owners of long-term empty homes to explore your experiences in more detail. If you would be interested in taking part in such an interview, please select the button below. You will then be asked to provide contact details to allow us to contact you. These details will be used only for this purpose and will not be linked to your survey response for the purposes of analysis and reporting.

Name:

Telephone number:

Email:

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey.

Please click the "Submit" button below to upload your response.

You will then be redirected to the Scottish Government's "More Homes" page and this means that your response has been uploaded successfully.