Work to bring empty homes back into use

Hundreds of homes in Horsham District have been empty for months on end, the council has revealed.

Marking National Empty Homes week (February 1521) Horsham District Council said there are around 550 homes that have been empty for six months or longer.

And it confirmed it wants to bring as many properties back into use to ease housing shortages.

The council said it works with owners and developers to look at ways properties can be brought back into sustainable use, often after being unoccupied for an extended period.

Homes left empty long term can be a blight on the neighbourhood and attract anti-social behaviour, according to the council. There can be emotional and complex reasons homes may be left empty, but there are many incentives to turn an empty house into a future home.

A spokeswoman said: “The biggest incentive for bringing the home back into use is to gain regular rental income from letting, or a lump sum from selling your property.

“The Council’s Environmental Health team can offer empty homeowners advice and information on the options available to help bring homes back into use.

“This includes grant assistance if improvement work is needed for the empty home, or the services of our lettings team which has families looking for homes to rent in this area.”

The Council also works in partnership with the Sussex YMCA to offer a leasing scheme to owners of empty homes as an alternative to improving or letting the property themselves.

For more information email publichealth. licensing@horsham.gov.uk or call 01403 215641.