Agenda item

The Director of Regeneration will be in attendance to provide an overview in relation to Middlesbrough Council’s responsibilities with regard to empty properties as an introduction to the Panel’s scrutiny review on this topic.

 

Recommendation: that the Panel determines what further information will be required for this scrutiny investigation.

The Director of Regeneration gave a presentation in relation to Empty Properties in Middlesbrough.

 

Middlesbrough currently had approximately 2000 empty homes some of which were causing issues.  Properties that had been empty for longer than six months diminished local housing needs and could have a severe impact on neighbourhoods.  These homes could attract anti-social behaviour, increased crime rates and decrease local property values and outside investment opportunities. 

 

Substantial areas of the town had high residential voids, low sale values and high population churn, which created potential market failure - resulting in social consequences and implications for Council resources and service delivery.   This situation was unsustainable and resulted in the need for significant market intervention at great cost to the Council.  Tackling empty homes in Middlesbrough and bringing them back into use would positively impact on residents, including the homeless, children leaving care, and families in need of accommodation, or temporary accommodation, as well as the wider community, for whom empty properties often caused problems.

 

Middlesbrough Council had implemented the following actions to date:

 

·        Empty Homes Strategy

The strategy, which was subject to review, was designed to target and address empty homes in Middlesbrough.  It was being considered alongside homeless and temporary accommodation needs.

 

·        Problem Property Action Plan

     The aim of the plan was to better unify and co-ordinate Middlesbrough             Council’s cross-directorate and partner agency problem property            interventions, bridge gaps and embed the actions and assess and address the          issues across Middlesbrough’s problem properties, streets and gardens aligning   with the new Empty Homes Strategy.

 

·        Questionnaire

The aim was to ascertain why properties were empty and sign post to  other services or inform residents of available funding options and/or assist with repair work to bring them back into use.  The Council could also draw down on cross directorate enforcement powers and track premiums.  The results of the questionnaire would be evaluated.

 

·        Pilot - North Ormesby

All streets had been reviewed and problem properties that were detrimental to the area had been identified – all of which were empty.  Properties had been flagged and reported through the AIM meeting.  Information held on the council tax database was also checked for accuracy.

 

·        Introduced Completion Notices – April 2024

Forced owners to undertake the work to bring their property into the rating list.  

 

·        Cross Directorate Approach

-        Consultation process with stakeholders and partners took place monthly.

-        A communications Management Matrix.

-        Terms of Reference created.

-        Work Packages within the problem properties action plan had been agreed.

-        Task and Finish Group established.

-        Regular meetings.

-        Bi-monthly Highlight Reporting on progress.

-        Empty and problem premises intervention process and powers agreed.

-        Presented to the Mayor and Executive Members and the Policy Development Group.

 

Priorities for the Council included:

·        Working with Housing providers to bring back their empty properties back into use for the purpose of using them to accommodate temporary households, homeless or children leaving care.

·        Purchasing empty properties and refurbishing them to an acceptable standard to increase housing stock.

·        A Pilot scheme to identify:

Top 10 Long term empties - survey issued: findings to be evaluated.

Top 10 properties considered to be most in need of refurbishment: identify actions to bring them back into use.

Top 10 properties with highest arrears for Council Tax and Business rates: potential forced sale.

·        Review of the Empty Property Strategy to align to homeless and temporary accommodation needs by October 2024.

 

Details of the Council’s empty and problem premises intervention process and powers were provided.  The Council was keen to work develop positive relationship with owners and housing providers to improve their properties and uplift areas.

 

A summary of the number of empty properties in August 2024, broken down by Ward area was also provided.  There were 2231 empty properties with 1233 empty for more than 6 months.  Not all properties were derelict or deserted.  There was an outstanding council tax balance of £5.5 million.  The areas with the highest number of empty properties were the Central and Newport Wards, where the majority of stock were in Council Tax Band A.   

 

Council Tax regulations enabled for a premium to be charged on properties that had been empty for two years or more.  Nationally, the number of properties being charged the empty homes premium had risen year on year, suggesting that properties were remaining empty for longer, despite significant financial charges being placed against a property by the Local Authority.   

 

Middlesbrough Council did not currently charge the maximum premium for properties that had been empty for 10 years or more.   Whilst there were some advantages to charging the premium there were also disadvantages.  It could be argued that charging the premium could become counter-productive since it increased the Council’s debt provision.    It was considered that exercising cross directorate powers as well as engagement with Landlords created more positive outcomes.  The Council was also expanding its work with Registered Social Landlords to ensure they brought their properties back into use as soon as possible.

 

Previously there had been a Private Sector Housing Team within the Council and over the next few months Strategic Housing would become a function again.  The Regeneration Directorate currently only worked on new buildings and new sites.  Some of the powers that had previously existed were now scattered across different parts of the Council and were not all actively used.   A Member asked whether the Council had the power to force the sale of a property.  It was confirmed that the Council could carry out compulsory purchase however to do this could take many years and also cost a lot of money.  The cheaper and easier solution was to get the owners to rectify issues with their properties.

 

When a property had been secured or boarded up by the Council, a Member asked what further action was taken.   The Director explained that this was the long-term strategy – to build a relationship with the owner and work with them to improve the area.  Once an area started to improve it was hope that further intervention would not be needed.  Existing Council resources were limited and the current team concentrated on the properties that were in the worst state of repair.  Surprisingly it was often the case that people did not even know they owned a property – they might not even live in the UK and could have been left it in a Will.  So those properties were not being checked regularly and were often those causing the most problems.

 

The Council was working with housing associations, using money including government funding to buy, refurbish and manage empty homes which could be used for vulnerable people, saving money on temporary accommodation.  Funding was in place for one housing provider to tackle 200 properties over the next two years.

 

AGREED as follows that:

1. The information provided was received and noted.
2. Further information would be sought in relation to the percentage of empty homes per ward, the number of empty homes that were privately owned or owned by social housing landlords, and how the numbers of empty properties in Middlesbrough had changed over the last 10 years.