Four empty homes, including a five-apartment house in Penilee which attracts anti-social behaviour, could be bought by the council and converted into public housing.
Glasgow City Council is planning compulsory purchase orders [CPO] on properties in the south of the city. They are the latest in a series of CPOs which have been pursued to turn “unfit homes” into social housing.
As well as the Penilee property, flats on Melville Street, Allison Street and Westmoreland Street are being targeted by the council, which would then hand them over to housing associations.
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Cllr Ruairi Kelly, SNP, the city’s convener for neighbourhood assets, said: “Each of these units we are purchasing will be transformed from a blight on their neighbours and community to a safe and secure home for a family in Glasgow.”
The home at 73 Rylees Crescent, Penilee, has been empty since September 2006, council officials have reported. “The property is creating a blight on the area and is attracting anti-social behaviour,” they said, adding it is “the focus of persistent complaints from the local community and elected members”.
A joint owner was contacted in November 2020 but, according to the council, despite assurances that essential repairs would be carried out, no action has been taken. Wheatley Group would bring the “family sized property” back into use if the CPO is completed.
Council officials have said the landlord of flat 0/2 35 Westmoreland Street, in Govanhill, failed to contribute “on a voluntary basis when owners carried out major common repair works to their building in 2013”.
Govanhill Housing Association has offered to buy the property, which is in a poor condition, but the owner has refused to sell. If the CPO goes ahead, the housing association would carry out repairs before letting out the home to new tenants.
A council report added: “The occupants have advised that they have no tenancy agreement in place nor do they pay council tax. It is proposed that the occupants will be rehoused in other suitable alternative accommodation once their needs have been assessed.”
Flat 2/2 at 4 Melville Street, Pollokshields, was the subject of “statutory intervention” after “the failure of owners to carry out essential common repairs voluntarily when the buildings fell into a state of serious disrepair”, officials said.
It has never been reoccupied and “remains a source of anti-social behaviour putting the council’s substantial investment in the property at risk”, the report to councillors added.
Southside Housing Association, which would take over the home if the CPO is progressed, has offered to buy the flat voluntarily but the owner has reportedly refused to sell. The housing association is planning a five-year maintenance scheme for the whole building.
It would also take over the management of flat 0/4 94 Allison Street, where the council has been unsuccessful in attempts to track down the owner. That property has been “lying abandoned for a number of years and is in poor condition”.
Funding for the purchases is made available through the affordable housing supply programme, a Scottish Government fund. Scottish Ministers must confirm the compulsory purchases before they can go ahead.
Cllr Kelly said: “Over the last term we greatly increased the use of CPO powers to bring empty or unfit homes back into the public housing mix and we intend to continue that work this term.
“Carrying out a CPO can be a long and complicated process but our dedicated team of officers are continuously identifying unused houses and flats and working without housing association partners to transform them into homes.”
The owners will continue to be given the opportunity to sell voluntarily and are entitled to seek compensation for the loss of the property. All costs would be met from the affordable housing supply programme budget.
Councillors were to be asked to approve pursuing the CPOs at a meeting on Thursday however it is possible it no longer goes ahead due to the death of the Queen. If the meeting is postponed, the items would be included on the agenda of a future meeting of the city’s contracts and property committee.
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