Issue details

Reason for the Decision: To bring a long-term empty property back into use and create a home for affordable rent and temporary accommodation

Alternative Options considered and rejected:

Take no action – without Council intervention the property will remain empty for the foreseeable future. The Council has a high demand for temporary accommodation in this area.

Purchase the property and ‘back to back’ private sale - The Council has a high demand for temporary accommodation and this property represents an ideal opportunity to meet such demand.

Compulsory Purchase – following a long period of protracted enforcement action and negotiation, the current owner has agreed to sell the property to the Council and therefore acquiring the property using Compulsory Purchase powers is not appropriate.

Empty Dwelling Management Order – this would require the Council to renovate the property, allocate tenants and manage the building for 7 years and then ‘hand it back’ to the current owner. As such this option does not offer long term value for money for the Council.

Budget Implications:

Following a market valuation of the property the Council has offered to purchase the property for £160,000 subject to survey. This offer has been accepted.

It is proposed that the Right to Buy Receipts Budget is used to purchase the property, with renovation costs being funded from the same budget should no other funding sources be available at that time.

Renovation and improvement costs to make the property decent and safe are estimated to be in the region of £145,000 subject to detailed inspection and survey.

These costs are elevated due to the need to clear the property of considerable possessions and also structural instability to the front bay window.