What is an empty property?

There are often good reasons for properties being left empty, but some are empty for longer than is justified by the workings of the housing market.  A property which has been empty for in excess of 6 months is considered to be an 'empty home'. 

What happens to empty homes is not simply a matter of concern to those who own them. A property that is left unoccupied and not maintained will ,over time, begin to affect neighbouring properties, whose condition and value might be adversely affected.  Empty properties are also at risk from being broken into by vandals and squatters and in extreme cases might become a target of arson.  Empty homes are frequently the cause of complaints to local authorities, for example in relation to environmental health issues and the police and fire services are also regularly called out to deal with empty properties.

Bringing empty homes back into use can reduce the need to build more much needed new homes thus reducing pressure on Greenfield development and is in line with the Government’s target to build 60% of new homes on previously used land.  It is important to maximise the use of the existing housing stock so that we can minimise the number of new homes that need to be built each year, particularly in this area of the country where housing demand is high. 

Empty homes account for 3% of the dwellings in North Norfolk.  In April 2011, North Norfolk recorded 1,541 empty homes.  The vast majority of these were privately owned and 866 of these had been empty for more than 6 months.

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Why are these homes empty?

There are many reasons why a property remains empty for a long period - here are some examples:

• the property may be in need of major repairs or refurbishment and the owner may not have the necessary resources to make the property habitable
• there may be problems with accessing the property
• there may be planning restrictions which restrict the occupancy of the property
• the owner may be having difficulty in finding a new tenant or owner
• the owner may have been unable to obtain the mortgagor’s or freeholder’s consent to let the property
• the owner may be trying to sell the property and may be prepared to leave the property empty whilst they wait for the right price
• the owner may be unwilling to consider leasing or letting the property
• the owner may be temporarily working abroad and intend to live in the property in the future
• the owner may not be aware of the property’s existence, for example where property records are not kept
• there may be a complicated ownership scenario
• the owner may not fully appreciate the business case for bringing their empty property back into use
• the property may have been acquired solely for speculative investment purposes and the owner is not concerned that the property is empty
• the property may be owned by a development company who has plans for its future redevelopment
• the property may be joined to a business property and the business owner does not want to let it