Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services

The Scrutiny Board considered a Briefing Note which provided an update on progress in dealing with empty dwellings following the approval of the Empty Dwellings Strategy in August 2021, with the main aim of reducing the number of long-term empty dwellings in Coventry to a practical minimum.

A long term empty dwelling is considered to be any property that has been empty for six months or more. A number of actions have now been completed within the Strategy and a presentation at the meeting updated the Scrutiny Board on progress made to date, together with information in relation to powers available to the Council to deal with empty properties.

The presentation covered:-

·  The three main objectives of the Strategy:-

-  Objective 1 – promote a range of advice, assistance and support and develop new solutions

-  Objective 2 – use enforcement action to bring long term problematic empty dwellings back into use

-  Objective 3 – better understanding why dwellings are being left empty and where possible prevent dwellings from becoming empty for long periods of time

·  The City Council’s approach:-

-  Three phases leading up to formal action

o  Phase 1 – work with the owner to identify options and find a solution

o  No satisfactory progress – case will progress to phase 2 (Informal warning)

o  Subject to regular environmental crime and ASB – skip phase 2 and move to phase 3 (formal action)/ owner of a property is untraceable or demonstrates an unwillingness to work with the Council

-  The Council will seek to recover all costs where possible

-  Extent of enforcement determined by the resources available to fund both the revenue and capital elements

-  Prior to enforcement, look at all options available legally and within available resources to ensure not being subjected to unnecessary risk

·  Action Plans for dealing with empty properties

·  Work undertaken so far including:-

-  Identifying 300+ cases to develop an empty dwellings property database

-  Identified 32 priority case – targeting 4 for potential insolvency action or enforced sale; 6 potential Compulsory Purchase Order action; 22 requiring proactive enforcement

-  Targeted one long term problematic case with Demolition Order/CPO action

-  During 2022, brought 33 properties back into use

·  Enforcement powers available to the Council including:-

-  General enforcement powers

-  Enforced sale

-  Compulsory Purchase Orders

-  Empty Dwelling Management Orders

The Scrutiny Board asked questions, sought assurances and made comments on a number of issues including:-

·  Noting that the Strategy did not cover empty commercial properties

·  Assurances in relation to defining dwellings as empty after a six month period and ensuring that any action taken is applied proportionality, noting that each case is treated individually and on its own merit

·  Sources of information used to identify empty properties, including Council tax information

·  Assurances in relation to advice and support given to home owners

·  The situation in relation to home owners who live abroad

·  Difficulties in relation to applying timeframes to dealing with each case due to the potential complexities involved

The officers were thanked for the comprehensive presentation and all the work carried out in this regard.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Board:-

1)  Notes the current position and the situation regarding funding constraints

2)  Supports and welcomes the co-ordinated response to managing empty dwellings in the City

3)  Requests that an update on progress and outcomes achieved in relation to long term empty dwellings be included on the Work Programme for 2023/24

4)  Requests that the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities considers reviewing the wording of the Empty Dwellings Strategy to provide reassurance to residents that the Policy is applied proportionality and the case studies as to how the Policy is applied are appended to the Policy