Review of the Private Rented Sector: Volume 4: Bringing Private Sector empty houses into use
A review of initiatives to address the problem of empty houses drawn from case studies across the UK.
Footnotes
1 The Scottish Government, 2007 Firm Foundations: The Future of Housing in Scotland
2 The Scottish Government, 2007, Firm Foundations: The Future of Housing in Scotland
3 The Scottish Government, 2007, Firm Foundations: The Future of Housing in Scotland, ch.4
4 For detailed responses, see: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/04/02094036/4.
5 The definition of empty properties used in this report is that the properties are privately owned and empty for longer than 6 months - i.e. not transitional voids between tenancies or in the process of being sold or actively being renovated. This definition also accords with the point at which the property is eligible for a Council Tax discount rather than an exemption.
6 GROS household estimates 2007- Table 8 Vacant Dwellings
7 Caledonian Economics & Arneil Johnston (2001) Evaluation of the Empty Homes Initiative, Scottish Executive, Central Research Unit
8 This council did not wish to be included in the case studies.
9 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2003) Empty Property: Unlocking the Potential, London
10 http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/empty_homes_review_2005-2.pdf.
11See http://www.islington.gov.uk/Housing/PrivateHousing/EmptyProperties/)
12 http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/private_sector_strategy_low-res.pdf
13 http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/housing/housing-strategy
15 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/923/0054147.pdf
16 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/229540/0062199.pdf
17 While written from an English legislative perspective, the Empty Homes Agency booklet Cure for Empty Homes offers useful insights to the strengths and weaknesses of the CTR http://www.emptyhomes.com/documents/publications/cure_for_empty_homes.pdf
18 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/StockPublicSector
19 An estimate of RSL empty homes can be obtained from the annual APSR returns submitted to the Scottish Housing Regulator. However, this exercise will still only provide an estimate as it was found that the Scottish Housing Regulator asks RSLs to supply data on the numbers of empty homes which are vacant for 6 months and those that are vacant for over 1 year. There is no figure for houses which are empty for 6 months to 1 year.
20 Technical guidance note, The use of personal information held for collecting and administering Council Tax ICO January 2007 published online at http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/use_of_personal_information_held_for_collecting_and_admini%E2%80%A6.pdf
22 http://www.emptyhomes.com/whatwedo/what_we_do.html
23 http://naepp5.planetdrupal.ca/aboutnaepp?q=aboutnaepp
24 See Annex 2
26 See the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, s.13
27 Legislation at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/ukpga_20040034_en_10#pt4-ch1.
28 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1925/cukpga_19250020_en_1
29 For more details see: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/151111.pdf
30 http://www.rpts.gov.uk/Files/2007/February/100009I9.pdf
31 http://www.parliamentonline.co.uk/hansard/hocw/90224w0009.htm
32 The Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 may provide a similar power to the ESP for debt recovery by a creditor, by seeking Sheriff Court approval for a Land Attachment. It might therefore be possible that a local authority could use a Land Attachment on an empty home where the owner has incurred a sufficiently large debt by the non-payment of repairs costs from default work notices. However, Part 4 of the Act has not yet been commenced and it is not yet known in what circumstances Land Attachments could be used.
33 Power to acquire land for, or in connection with, provision of housing accommodation
34 Power to acquire and repair a house or building liable to a Closing or Demolition Order
35 For further discussion of the difficulties of using CPOs see "Report of the analysis produced by the Review of Scotland's Cities " Scottish Executive 2003 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/01/15950/15161 and Review of Compulsory Purchase and Land Compensation - Scottish Executive Central Research Unit, June 2001 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/156534/0042035.pdf
36 http://www.crisis.org.uk/publications/RDS_-_A_Sustainable_Housing_Option.pdf
37 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2005/20050051.htm
38 Finance Act 2001
39 This relief is only available for flats over shops and other commercial conversions and there are conditions.
40 This is the maximum limit of 20 years for domestic leases which was introduced by the Land Reform Act 1974.
41 Lead Tenancy Schemes In Scotland Julie Rugg and David Rhodes, Centre for Housing Policy, University of York published by Scottish Executive Social Research 2004
42 Substantially complete data on LT projects and REPGs dating from the inception of the schemes was supplied by the Scottish Government and analysed by the research team
43 Information obtained from owner at project visit arranged by SRPBA July 2008
44 Empty homes contain embodied energy and it has been calculated in research carried out for the Empty Homes Agency that over a period of 50 years the refurbishment, and heating of an older home will produce a similar amount of C0 2 as building and heating a new home.
45 Part 4 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 (not yet commenced) may provide a power for debt recovery by a creditor, by seeking Sheriff Court approval for a Land Attachment (ie sale of a property) where the owner has incurred a sufficiently large debt by the non-payment of repairs costs from default work notices, but the circumstances in which a Land Attachment could be used are not yet known.
46 http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/story.aspx?storycode=6502796
47 At the time of publication, it was understood that an organisational review was underway.
48 Pathfinders are partnerships set up in 1992 by the ODPM to deal with areas in the North of England and the Midlands which exhibited housing market weaknesses, evident through high vacancy rates, low sales values/low demand and, in some cases, neighbourhood abandonment.
49 A useful bibliography can be found at http://planning.rudi.net/BIBS/URBAN/18.HTM .
50 http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/state_aids/comp-2006/n293-06.pdf
51 Housing Gap Funding Appraisal Guide. English Partnerships October 2004
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback