More than one thousand privately-owned Bristol homes have been left 'long-term empty' despite the desperate lack of housing stock in the city. Of those, almost 300 have been unlived-in for at least two years.
In Bristol, owners of empty properties still have to pay council tax and if their properties have been sitting empty for two years or more, they have to pay double the standard rate and after five years they are charged triple. However, if the owner of an empty property wishes to carry out major repairs or structural work, they can apply for a council tax discount.
This week is National Empty Homes Week, during which participating councils can demonstrate measures that have been put in place to bring empty homes back into use. Bristol City Council participates in the initiative and this week Bristol mayor, Marvin Rees, outlined the measures taken by the council to bring unoccupied homes back into use.
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Mr Rees claims in his blog that through these incentives among others, the council’s Private Renting Team “helped bring around 500 empty homes back into use”. Despite this apparent success, in 2021 the number of long-term empty properties increased by 54 according to the data provided by Action on Empty Homes.
Action on Empty Homes is a national campaign to bring empty homes back into use for those in housing need. Part of the work they do is to raise awareness through the annual week of action and to support local councils and communities to bring homes back into use.
For a property to be considered long-term empty it needs to be out of use for at least six months. Mr Rees states on his blog that on average, council homes in Bristol are re-let within 77 days and that despite the challenges of the pandemic, the council re-let 1,081 homes in 2021.
In a breakdown of official government data for 2021 provided by Action on Empty Homes, Bristol alone had a total of 3,735 empty homes in 2021. This figure takes into account second homes - excluding these and simply focusing on long-term empty homes that are out of use, the figure is much smaller at 1,108 for 2021.
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: "Council tax data from November 2021 shows there are approximately 1,100 empty privately owned residential properties. This includes around 800 properties that have been empty for under two years and almost 300 for two years or more."
The figures provided to Bristol Live by Bristol City Council do not include council tax exempt properties and those owned by the council and registered social landlords. Nor does it include the data on furnished empties or second homes sitting empty.
Although information on the number of council properties in Bristol sitting empty was requested, the council has not yet provided this figure.
In certain circumstances it is also within the council’s power to carry out enforcement action on empty homes via a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). A CPO is a way of the council buying the property without the owner's consent.
According to national guidelines, local councils can use such measures when in the public interest and if other measures have been taken to buy the property or land with the owner’s consent. Although such enforcement measures can be used by Bristol City Council to increase the number of council homes available, it is not clear to what extent these powers have been exercised.
On his blog Mr Rees said of CPOs: “If incentives and advice don’t work, the team may be able take enforcement action, such as issuing a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO), meaning the council can acquire the property without the consent of the owner. The owner is paid for the property, but it means we can get it back on the market and available for people to occupy.”
According to the 2021 data, one in every 55 homes in Bristol is currently considered out of use. Despite the measures taken by the council, the data shows that this is an increase compared to the previous year.
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Bristol is not alone in having so many empty homes despite its housing crisis. Nationally there has been an increase in empty homes across the country. There are currently 100,000 families in temporary accommodation yet there are 238,306 long-term empty homes.
If second homes or ‘furnished empties' are taken into account, the national figure sits at around 1 million. For campaign group, Action on Empty Homes, the growth can be blamed on a failure in housing policy.
An organisation spokesperson said: "[These figures] show us how easy we make it for investors to suck up new-build supply and move it into 'non-residential markets', such as short-lets, second homes and Airbnbs. They also tell us about discarded homes needing investment - perhaps inherited by those without the money, time or energy to bring them back to use.
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"Currently, on top of our long-term empty total of 238,306 homes in England, another 110,000 council tax exempt empties lie unused as a result of the owners death - how many of these will add to that long-term empty number in future years? Pre-pandemic that figure stood around 89,000.."
Action on Empty Homes is calling on the Government to give local authorities better powers to bring empties into use and to control Airbnb and the growth of second homes. They are also calling for a new empty homes programme, and say the data shows that the growth in empty homes coincided with the end of the last national government scheme to fund bringing long-term empties back into use.
They say these funds can also help to tackle the climate crisis alongside the housing crisis by encouraging a deep retrofit of empty homes.
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