Council to identify empty homes

A CRACKDOWN on empty homes has been launched by town councillors in Bideford – who are urging people to report dwellings that are not in use.

The Bideford Town Council Empty Homes Working Group is asking residents to identify empty properties in the hope that Torridge District Council (TDC) can take action to bring them back into use.

James Craigie, a town councillor, said: “We’re asking people to report suspected empty homes to Bideford Town Council’s Empty Homes Working Group. You can email us at emptyhomes@bidefordtc.gov.uk with information.

“We’re trying to collate all the information we can about empty homes. There’s a council tax premium for vacant properties for more than two years, and we think this leads to people not selfreporting. Some landlords keep places empty as they are unwilling to own up to paying extra tax.

“We’ve got some funding from the town council to do a land registry search, identify the owners, and contact them. We’re trying to get as many people to report suspected empty homes as possible so that we can investigate them.”

He added: “We know that the national average for districts is to have 1% of the housing stock empty on a short-term basis and 1% empty for more than two years. Torridge has only got 76 people paying the council tax premium when it should be about 350. We know about 300 empty houses out there that aren’t accounted for.”

Cllr Ruth Craigie added: “We’ve had at least 20 empty homes reported so far, and we know of some decent flats which are more or less ready to go, but they’re not being used. We’ve got houses in good condition that have been empty for three years when we’ve got a homeless crisis. I think that we’ve got to get to grips with this.”

Fellow town councillor Cllr Kaye Corfe added: “We’re digging up all the information and the tools that we can use but aren’t necessarily being utilised by Torridge District Council. I think there are many things that they could be doing, but they may feel it is too much hard work or that it will cost too much money or won’t be fit for purpose.”

Cllr Ruth Craigie currently has a motion being investigated and tweaked by TDC, where she is also a member, to get these homes back into use. Part of the motion states: “It is a dereliction of duty for TDC not to be utilising all the powers under the Housing Act 2004, which includes forced sale, compulsory purchase and empty dwelling management orders (EDMOs).” Torridge District Council members want the motion tweaked before it is next considered.