Derby City Council’s Empty Homes Service

Background

The City of Derby is a unitary authority located in the East Midlands. famous for its links with Rolls Royce, the railway industry and also for its significance as a cultural centre for people who are deaf or hearing impaired. Derby was granted City status in 1977 and now comprises 17 Wards, totalling in excess of 100,000 dwellings.

As of May 2011 there were more than 7000 people on the waiting list for housing, and over 4500 empty homes. Of these 4500, some 2500 have been empty for six months or more.

Local estate agents report that property sales are slow, achieved prices are not as high as they were 12 to 18 months ago, and that a paucity of credit, combined with economic insecurity, has contributed to a continued stagnation in the housing market, which further encourages property owners to leave their homes empty. There are many empty properties in every ward in Derby, but the major concentrations lie in the Arboretum, Abbey and Normanton areas of the City.

Clearly, there are many people in need of a home, and many homes in need of occupiers.
 

Project

In 2003, an Empty Homes Officer was appointed to the councils housing standards team to investigate those properties that remained unoccupied and to devise a strategy for returning them to use. It was identified that a great cooperation was required from several council departments in order to be successful. Links were forged with the council tax team, electoral roll and the housing standards team to enable suitable information to be gathered.

Successes began early, several properties were returned to use merely through working with the owner of the empty property, encouraging and facilitating whatever process needed to be completed in order for the property to be reoccupied. This often included assistance with the selling process - our role being further enhanced through fee discounts that have been negotiated with a local estate agent and auctioneer – or legal dealings in cases of outstanding probate.

From its inception, the City Council’s Empty Homes Service has concentrated its efforts on those properties that caused the greatest negative impact to the community – the boarded up properties, the neglected, abandoned homes that become hubs for crime and antisocial behaviour as well as a blight on the local community. To this end, the council began the process of compulsorily acquiring several such properties in 2009. The compulsory purchase of the properties, in Arboretum Square and Leopold St, were the subject of a Public Enquiry which found in the councils favour. The properties vested to the council in November 2010, and at the time of writing, the Arboretum Square properties are being refurbished and returned to use as large family houses, and the Leopold St properties, having been found to be uneconomical to repair, have been demolished to be replaced with new affordable housing as part of a wider regeneration of the area.

Greater Resources

In 2009, it became clear that one member of staff was not able to address all aspects of empty homes work. It was decided that an Empty Homes Officer should be recruited for day to day empty property work, with the existing officer promoted to the post of Empty Homes Manager, enabling more time to be spent on more complex cases and strategic functions.

A new officer was recruited and an exponential leap in the number of properties returned to use became evident – in 2008, less than 100 properties were returned to use by Derby CC, in 2011, the number was in excess of 200.

The Process

The standard empty homes process involves initial standardised letters being sent to the property owner, requesting information as to their intentions for the property and includes a reply slip and SAE. If satisfactory responses are not received, a follow up letter, again of standardised design and content, is sent a few weeks later. Often, after either the first or second letter, owners will get in touch and we discuss ways in which we can assist and the relationship will build from there. If there is no response to the second letter, however, the more detailed investigation begins, including:

• Land registry search to establish ownership
• Visits to the property, asking neighbours about the owner, whether they see him, where he might be found etc
• Contact with council tax team to establish any new correspondence address
• Letters to any new correspondence addresses, or visits if appropriate
• Checks with care homes and registry office
• Contact with electoral roll to confirm current status and information
• Service of S16 Notice on any interested party revealed by land registry search to compel them to divulge any information that may be relevant

If no new information is received, a third letter is sent that actively mentions the possibility of enforcement action. Any communications that are sent after this point are bespoke as the possibility of enforcement action grows.

If all of the above fail to locate the owner or illicit a response, there is little option left but to gain entry into the property in order to find clues as to where the owner may be, and also to evaluate the property for any damage or defect that may have a detrimental effect on neighbouring premises. To achieve this, we use S15 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. This requires an intention of entry Notice to be displayed clearly at the property beforehand. In itself, prominent placing of a Notice on a property can result in contact from a previously undetectable owner. However, if no response is received, the Notice is executed and entry gained. The property is left as secure as it is found, and we are not able to remove anything from the property. However, we can ascertain when the property was last occupied by checking dates on post, and we can also ascertain whether or not mains services are still connected.

If any of the measures outlined above are successful in locating the owner, we then begin the process of working with them to facilitate the property’s reoccupation on a voluntary basis, while not ruling out further enforcement action should it be necessary.

Statutory Sanctions

Where there are council tax debts on a property, the possibility of enforced sale can be explored. This requires excellent partnership working between the empty homes service, legal and council tax teams. Derby City Council is currently progressing a pilot enforced sale that will lead to the recovery of several thousand pounds of debt. It is hoped that once the process has been completed, more properties will follow suit.

There has also been some degree of success with the use of EDMO’s. Though an interim or final EDMO has not been granted on a property in Derby as yet, the threat of such action has resulted in the owners concerned returning their properties to use voluntarily.

The final sanction is compulsory purchase. Where all efforts to engage the owner have failed, and the situation warrants it, there is little option but to proceed along this route. Derby City Council has a rolling programme of compulsory purchases, overseen by a compulsory purchase specialist. The information gathered and the attempts made by the empty homes service to engage the owner, serve as the evidence base for such action should it become necessary. The Empty Homes Service and compulsory purchase specialist work very closely and are part of the same team.

When a property is compulsorily acquired, it is offered for sale at auction at the earliest opportunity, with conditions attached as to its standard of renovation and timescale for reoccupation. Selling the property in this way also avoids a large capital outlay for the council and reduces costs to a minimum.

The approach that Derby takes to the empty homes issue serves not only to address some of the worst housing in the City, but also to give ‘teeth’ to the empty homes strategy and process. The emphasis on the opportunity to return the property to use voluntarily is emphasised throughout the CPO process, but nevertheless, the ultimate sanction does exist for those owners who do not wish to cooperate.

Empty Homes Loans

Unfortunately, budgetary cuts and the demise of the housing renewal programme have necessitated a reduction in the scale of assistance that we can offer, though we are still able to offer loans to empty property owners under certain circumstances. We are currently looking towards sourcing further funding for this facility as it has been a great success and helps to lever in considerable private investment.

New Homes Bonus

It is not advisable to be good at the practicalities but bad at the business. Derby is certainly successful with the practicalities of empty homes work as outlined above, but when the Government announced the introduction of the New Homes Bonus in 2010, it was clear that ways of working had to change to maximise income for the council – the business side of empty property work.

New Homes Bonus represents an opportunity for empty homes teams to earn a great deal of money for the local authority, but there are potential pitfalls for empty homes officers. In essence, whether a property is an inaccurate entry on the empty property list that is ‘returned to use’ simply through a varification visit, or a long term problem empty home, subject to neighbourhood complaint and criminal activity, that is returned to use following a compulsory purchase order and resultant public enquiry, the reward is the same – six years equivalent council tax. Clearly, the one option for returning a property to use is far cheaper, and far less administratively burdensome, than the other.

A balance therefore needs to be found. On the one hand, the ‘easy wins’ have to be exploited, be it inaccurate data, or the owner of a relatively recent empty home that just needs some guidance or advice. On the other hand, those properties with a detrimental impact on the community still have to be dealt with – the time consuming, resource intensive problem properties will not go away of their own accord. Adopting this way of working provides a holistic and strategic approach to the empty homes issue.

Profile Raising and community engagement

A key part of empty homes work is to raise awareness of who you are and what you do. The City Council’s empty homes service has visited several neighbourhood forums and residents associations and has had many ‘good news’ articles published in the local press that served to publicise our, and therefore the councils, successes. Visits to neighbourhood forums also help to ensure resources are being targeted correctly.
Derby publicises its empty homes service through the measures outlined above, but also through a strong presence on the internet and links with other agencies and projects operating in the area, such as the regional Decent and Safe Homes (DASH) project and the Local Letting Agency. In turn, this provides additional opportunities for partnership working in sourcing suitable properties for upcoming schemes in the private rented sector.

Impact

Derby City Council has now had an empty homes service for nearly nine years. Since its inception, hundreds of properties have been returned to use through voluntary measures, dozens have been returned to use following the threat of enforcement action, and several others have been returned to use following such enforcement. Thousands of pounds of debt have been recovered and over £1million of external investment has been levered in to problem properties in the City by external partners.

While empty homes are still a problem in the City, and there is still a great deal to be done, these successes should not be overlooked. Over and above the headline statistics on properties returned to use, it is impossible to know how many arson or vandal attacks on empty homes have been prevented, or how many streets and communities have been shielded from the worst impacts of empty homes due to a proactive empty homes service. Neither can we estimate how much money this work has saved the council and the emergency services in responding to such problems at a later date. With the introduction of the New Homes Bonus, there is the danger that the measurable financial impact to empty homes work will become the only barometer for success, but the associated community benefits should not be forgotten.
 

Lessons Learned

• It can take a great deal of time and persuasion to convince an empty property owner of the need to take action
• Relationships with other council departments are of key importance. Empty Property Officers must have read only access to council tax data at the very least
• Study your list of empty homes carefully. A desktop exercise can reveal flaws in the data or something that doesn’t quite seem right. An afternoon spent phoning RSL’s to confirm their long term empty homes are as stated on your empty homes list can often be time well spent
• Record everything. Empty homes work, even from the first letter, is building a case towards possible enforcement. While we hope to resolve the issue through voluntary cooperation, we must be mindful that, if a public inquiry was to be held into the compulsory purchase of a property, the council must be able to demonstrate that they did everything in their power to achieve voluntary progress.
• Administration is time consuming. Unfortunately, empty property officers are rarely able to spend as much time ‘on district’ as they would like to. If you can source any administrative support, make sure it is utilised effectively
• There must be ‘teeth’ to empty homes work. While it is possible to convince many empty home owners to cooperate voluntarily, both the threat of enforcement, and enforcement itself, need to used in certain circumstances.
• Engage with groups and organisations who are involved with empty homes, such as the Empty Homes Network and Empty Homes charity
• Empty homes work doesn’t simply generate money through new homes bonus, it also prevents the need to spend money at a later time when the problem has degenerated further
• Publicise successes. With ever-increasing budgetary pressure, and the fact that, currently at least, empty homes work is not a statutory duty, every opportunity to generate positive publicity for empty homes work and its impact on the wider community should be utilised.

Reference

Tony Briggs
Empty Homes Manager
Derby City Council
Saxon House
Heritage Gate
Friary St
Derby
DE1 1AN

01332 256342
Tony.briggs@derby.gov.uk