Working with owners to bring derelict properties back into use, a team at Caerphilly County Borough Council is turning houses into homes.
On the surface the team of experts are able to offer a vast amount of support and advice for empty properties, but when all options are exhausted the team can use enforcement powers to tackle problematic long-term empty properties.
For the first time the team recently used these powers on a property in Caerphilly that had been empty since at least February 2015. The house was found with no liable person attached to it and the original owner had tragically passed away in 2012.
The property sat empty for seven years, causing it to begin rotting which attracted pests that forced neighbours and the wider community to submit complaints to the council. In response, the council served legal notices on the overgrown waste-filled garden.
However, with no owner to take care of the waste in the garden debts began building up which then allowed for the Empty Property Team to enforce the sale of the house to recover the funds owed.
The sale of the property was completed over the summer and a new owner has been tasked with turning the property back into a home.
Cllr Shayne Cook, the council’s cabinet member for housing, said ‘Empty properties are not only a blight on our communities and magnets for anti-social behaviour, but they also represent a wasted resource, particularly given the pressures of the current national housing crisis.
‘The council recognises that doing nothing is not an option and is committed to tackling the issue of empty properties. Enforcement is a last resort, but we recognise that it is necessary in some cases.
‘During the Empty Property Team’s first year of operation it successfully brought 104 empty homes back into beneficial use: the highest annual number for the council to date. As well as the creating much needed homes, the team’s efforts are helping to transform local communities and generate financial benefits to both the Council and the local economy.’
Image: Caerphilly Council
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