empty homes grant scotlandempty homes grant scotland

Feantsa (2019) detail a case study of Ireland's Empty Homes Initiative, founded by a non-profit housing association and co-funded by the government under the Rebuilding Ireland strategy. Well always try to get back to you within one working day with the information you need to move towards selling your empty property or bringing it back into use some other way. One study focusing on England highlighted that providing information and effective signposting may in some cases be sufficient to encourage some owners to bring properties back into use on its own (Tanner 2013). This will ensure we can work collaboratively to deliver our vision for empty homes as part . maps future scenarios (PDF) and the . Ipswich Council currently offers a First Time Buyers Empty Homes Grant to first time buyers who have savings of less than 7000 and whose mortgage is over 80% alongside an Estate Agency Discount Scheme, offering reduced fees for empty homes owners and free submission to auction. Our advisers will be able to tell you whether there is any funding available in your area. (Long-term empty homes are homes that are recorded as empty on council tax records for 6 months or more.) The benefits of registered social landlords, community groups and other private bodies bringing empty homes back into use are being demonstrated on a small scale in Scotland and we would like to see more of this nationally. In the context of collaborators holding common goals but differing priorities, evidence on how shared culture develops within a collaboration involving public, private and third sector groups and how long this takes to achieve good performance may provide insights on how this work might be accelerated to tackle empty homes. Two English case studies show different ways this can be achieved. A proposed one-off council tax levy on second and empty homes would wipe out the impact of the Treasury support. Our focus is on bringing as many empty homes back into use as possible. The plans submitted today will see 428 homes built in West Ealing and 353 in Bromley. The concept of the financialisation of housing holds that housing is used as a financial tool rather than simply a place to live (Bourne 2019). Current data from Action on Empty Homes finds that the . We recommend that anyone who is seeking to sell their property obtains independent professional valuation and legal advice. Owners are able to retain ownership of their property by benefitting from the labour of tenants, whilst tenants benefit from low cost, secure long term housing. Our Impact Report shows the significant problems these empty homes can cause for communities and why we believe that existing powers such as Compulsory Purchase Orders should be used more widely. However, the study pointed to insufficient understanding of the available schemes amongst LAs, homeowners and buyers. The service offered between two and 30 hours of support and by the end of the first year, 26 out of 137 homes were brought back into use. This can cause emotional stress to neighbours and a lot of expense. The role of Empty Homes Officers (EHOs) has rapidly expanded across Scotland since the position was introduced. There are also exemptions and discounts if the homeowner passes away, or if the property needs structural repairs. Empty homes officers and local authorities across the country have also told us that they agree with the view expressed in our last annual report that further powers, including Compulsory Sale and Rental Orders, should also be introduced to prevent homes from being left to deteriorate indefinitely at a time when Scotland desperately needs more homes. ng Term Empty Homes in Scotland 2021 Lo 9 What the figures tell us 10 Case Study - Pauline's story 10 se Study - An empty home that is causing distress in an area where there is no EHOCa 11 Bringing homes back into use 12 Case Study - No Grant of Confirmation 12 What happens to homes brought back into use 13 5 March 2012. We might be able to give you information straight away, or we might need to do some research and get back to you. There are over 250,000 people in need of homes. Their approach has particular relevance for urban centres with pressures on the housing market due to population growth; for context over half of Scotland's LAs are forecast to have population growth to 2028 centred mostly in urban areas across the central belt. Any loan offered will be secured on the property and will take into account the existing mortgage. When can the Council Tax levy be applied? The following sections detail approaches and interventions in each of the five areas described above and present evidence on their implementation, drawing on literature and case studies from the UK nations, and in instances relevant for the Scottish context, from Europe, the US and Japan. Whatever the reason for your empty home, we want to help bring it back into use. Riverside Housing Association's Own Place initiative helped people with low earnings get onto the property ladder by selling rundown properties they could no longer economically manage. Relationship management was found to be core to the work of dedicated empty homes roles, ensuring boundaries and expectations with partners and stakeholders are well understood to achieve successful outcomes (Rudman 2014). When the owner of apropertyhasreceived agrant, the owner must abide by the following conditions for a period of five years from the completion of the refurbishment: To discuss yourapplication, property inspection or get more information please contact theEmpty Homes Accommodation Teamon 01738 474540 or emailemptyhomesinitiative@pkc.gov.uk, Council Tax Reduction and Housing Benefit, Tackling condensation dampness and mould growth in your home, Free household energy efficiency advice from Scarf, Multi-Storey Blocks of Flats - Improvement Programme, need to be brought back to the repairing standard, The property must be let via Perth and Kinross Councils. make empty homes ready to rent or sell The planned homes must be affordable and can be for rent or sale. How many empty homes in Scotland are there? A joint venture between Twin Valley Homes and Place First created 131 larger, more energy efficient homes through the remodelling of derelict rows of 'two up two down' terraces to increase housing supply and address changing accommodation needs in the area (Carnuccio 2014). This use of CPOs was achieved largely through the actions of EHOs working closely with the SEHP and an acquisitions strategy involving partnership with RSLs to bring CPO properties back into use for social rent. It was previously noted in Section 3 that there are challenges to collecting robust data on empty homes. The maximum giving award available shall 25,000 through empty home; Contestants with repeat empty homes can apply for up to 5 drain homes. In the context of some areas of the country struggling with housing market viability, the importance of being able to apply policy differently may provide LAs more freedom to apply the premium in the best interests of their community (Davies 2014). Salford Council's Empty Homes team previously applied a successful approach to maximising the impact of funding initiatives and revenue raising opportunities to become one of the top five best performing councils in England, bringing a reported nearly 3000 vacant properties back into use between 2011-6 and halving the empty homes rate of their total housing stock from 6% to 3% (Malone 2017). Home Owners' Support Fund (HOSF) - Mortgage to Shared Equity. . This provides 30% of the capital funding for Giroscope's refurbishment projects, with the remainder secured through multi-agency funding appeals (Action on Empty Homes 2019). Over the past year, Empty Homes Officers, supported by the Partnership, have reported that 1,152 empty properties have been brought back into use. It's driven a 1000% increase in homes lost to short-letting in just 5 years. There are currently (as of April 2023) multiple streams of Scottish Government funding that can be used to contribute to bringing empty homes back in to use: As noted in the introduction, internationally displaced populations arriving to Scotland also have the potential to create additional pressures on housing for LAs. Research carried out by the National Assembly for Wales indicated that most LAs were prevented from using their statutory powers due to financial constraints, staffing, lack of expertise or a mixture of these issues (National Assembly for Wales 2019). If you have questions about what action to take after being issued a grant of confirmation in Scotland, contact our advice service. The central components are accessing grants, loans and other types of financing; identifying and securing properties for renovation; volunteering, employment and business opportunities associated with renovation work; engagement and involvement of local people and the successful coordination of partnership working practices. If you agree to the terms and conditions of funding and would like to find out if your property is suitable you can contact the. (These funds will now continue beyond March 2021, these pages will be updated shortly.) The service supported owners to bring their properties back into use through the use of a detailed report outlining possible options for the owner (Greenland and Coupland 2014). Please contact Empty Homes Officerwho can provide more details and make a referral for you. one-half second } The properties were then rented at affordable rates to the displaced people and new immigrants involved in the work (Barth 2017). Coordinating best practice through partnership working, and the importance of relationship management were also prominent themes in the literature on dedicated empty homes roles. Email us Call us. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on long-term empty properties being brought back into use; many empty homes officers (EHOs) report that owners advise that empty homes work has stalled due to a rise in the cost of materials, shortages in supplies and the lack of availability of local tradespeople. More homes are anticipated with applications being actively progressed through the Fund's due diligence process. Secondly, there was available capacity and expertise linked to Glasgow City Council's three EHOs roles. Weve helped many other empty home owners with all sorts of issues and solutions, including access to reduced VAT on building works. .nf-form-content .nf-field-container #nf-field-4-wrap .nf-field-element .ninja-forms-field { cost benefits to the owner if they rent or sell; condition of a property wont deteriorate as quickly if occupied; the outlook of a neighbourhood can improve reflecting on local house prices; social, education and transport amenities are utilised minimising the risk of losing services, particularly in rural areas; the property will be providing accommodation for someone in housing need. Having conducted a review to build on knowledge of community-led housing initiatives in England, Mullins and Sacranie (2014) and Mullins (2018) provide an account of an evaluation of the 'Empty Homes Community Grants Programme' (EHCGP) in England. Help to Buy. EDMOs are considered best suited for properties requiring minor repairs, where the LA can pay for initial repairs and refurbishment. In some cases, encouragement, incentivisation and penalties designed to bring empty properties back into use will not be sufficient and statutory powers may need to be enacted to bring empty homes back into use. Bringing empty homes into the private rented sector. Against this backdrop of significant challenges, and with home working, restrictions on visits to properties and varying access to IT equipment still affecting all EHOs, the achievements of empty homes officers are all the more impressive for 2021/22. Furthermore, so far the funding is enabling up to 500 void properties to be brought back into use across Aberdeen City, up to 24 void properties in Glasgow and up to 30 void properties in North Ayrshire, where the councils or RSLs confirmed they do not hold the resources to fund or contribute to the improvement works. With our teams support, they were able to weigh up the relative merits of selling the property in its current condition and understand the cost of a Council Tax levy, helping them focus their minds on preparing the property for sale. The initiative supported basic repairs to ensure properties were structurally sound and mortgage-able before selling them at a 25% discount on the condition that the buyers remained as owner occupiers for a minimum of five years. In some cases, it'll be in your best interest to sell your empty house at auction or via the open market in whatever current condition its in. By bringing your empty home back into use, this could help you. However, several local authorities have advised us that since the pandemic, empty homes work has been deprioritised, or in one council, completely stopped. Were experts at providing advice on how to address some of the most common problems faced by the owners of empty homes. Grants of up to 7,500 per bedroom are available and are awarded on a discretionary basis, subject to availability. Background Tackling empty homes remains a priority for the Scottish Government. /* FIELDS STYLES */ CPOs enable LAs, other public sector bodies and infrastructure providers to acquire land and/or buildings to enable projects which are in the public interest. If initial plans dont work out due to financing, there are other things to consider which may help your budget: Goods and services associated with the renovation of empty residential properties, which have been empty for two years or more, may qualify for a reduced rate VAT of 5%. By taking a targeted approach to accessing funding pots, Salford Council created a diversity of options from 10,000 grant funding to owners on the proviso they would match fund and bring their property up to the Decent Home standard (The Decent Homes Standard sets out guidance which applies to the social rented sector in England. Changes to taxation on rental properties may also have unintended consequences for rates of empty homes, highlighting the need to research the potential behavioural impacts of planned interventions, particularly where they take place within complex systems. Visit 'Set cookie preferences' to control specific cookies. In Scotland, empty homes which would normally be eligible for Council Tax are exempt up to a period of 6 months, after which they are liable for council tax, although a 50% discount applies. Scottish Government statistics show that in 2021-22 councils raised a total of around 28 million from their discretionary power to vary the council tax on empty homes from the baseline discount of 50%, of which around 15 million was from the additional discretionary power to remove the discount altogether or a charge a premium of up to 100% on dwellings empty for 12 months or more. We hope you will find it useful. All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except for graphic assets and where otherwise stated, Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice Directorate, 3. The use of a Council Tax premium designed to disincentivise empty properties was reported in several papers drawing on data from studies across Scotland, England and Wales (Scottish Government 2019; National Assembly for Wales 2019; Davies 2014; Tanner 2013). Their findings illustrate that the barriers identified above result in part from different institutional logics as well as competing social welfare and commercial objectives, but that such tensions do not prevent success if all partners align in their values and beliefs relating to the importance of the community social impact of their project. We want all councils to consider empty homes work in the round and encourage councils to have an integrated empty homes strategy that aligns with their strategic housing investment plan and local housing strategy. Similar findings were identified in research by the National Assembly for Wales, where not all LAs employed staff in dedicated empty homes roles and varying arrangements were in place across different areas (National Assembly for Wales 2019). Empty Homes Grants Background The Scottish Government is actively promoting initiatives to bring empty properties back into use as a means of increasing housing supply in the current economic climate where it is increasingly difficult to increase supply through new build. In order to find out what grant funding is available, please get in touch with your local authority. To only allow the cookies that make the site work, click 'Use essential cookies only.' The most common statutory powers for empty homes in Scotland are compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), these can be used in all UK nations and in Ireland. If all displaced people from Ukraine who hold a visa with a Scottish sponsor arrive, this would rise to 37,897. This section details the current funding available for bringing empty homes back into use in Scotland, then goes on to present examples of various schemes drawn from across the UK and one example from South Korea, to illustrate the ways that loans, grants and VAT discounts can be employed. background-color:#002b52; As mentioned previously, empty homes may also be used as part of a wider strategy to house displaced people if brought back into use. Whilst many individual LAs provide schemes to address empty homes, the work of organisations including SEHP in Scotland and Self Help Housing in the UK play a central role accessibly collating information on the support options available and engaging with individuals and groups signposting them to make use of what is on offer. Dumfries and Galloway's Town Centre Living Fund aims to increase the supply of affordable housing in town centres by bringing properties which have been empty for at least one year back into use through provision of a 50% grant, up to a maximum award of 20,000, based on five year letting at or below the LHA rate or owner occupancy. Some features will not be available immediately including Council Tax billing, Myaccount login, and some application forms. This was delivered on the basis of a training component of the model which used the build to upskill local unemployed workers, addressing below average educational attainment; reduced demand for workers; and a skills mismatch within the local area. Enforced sale procedures allow the forced sale of private property where there is a debt to the LA against the property and where the present owner is unable or unwilling to deal with the property and/or is unable to repay the debt. Empty properties are of particular interest as they can help increase the supply of housing in Scotland when brought back into use. We realise there isnt always an easy fix when it comes to empty home issues, but whatever the situation, we can help assess your options and guide you through the process of letting, renovating or selling your empty property as quickly and easily as possible. The Tanner study noted that reaching out to local housing organisations can not only provide social benefits such as opportunities for skills and training but a leasing arrangement can also be attractive to owners and councils, where it provides owners with an income in return for allocation rights (Tanner 2013). They often have dedicated empty homes teams who will be able to give you any information on any schemes they are running or advice on how to get funding to bring an empty property back into use. The methodology of the Empty Homes Initiative is founded on the principles 'Advocacy + Action = Solution' and focuses heavily on the importance of advocacy and awareness raising. On the other hand the evidence suggests that Council Tax levies can be unevenly applied across different LAs depending on outlook and resource. Action on Empty Homes' 2019 review concluded by identifying common barriers to success in partnership initiatives around five themes: Gillett et al (2016; 2019) provide further evidence around these themes based on a four year qualitative, grounded theory-based longitudinal study. The role of Empty Homes Officers ( EHOs) has rapidly expanded across Scotland since the position was introduced. Our advisers helped the relatives of an elderly owner whose house had become empty after they moved into care. In another example of a larger scale project taking place in the west of Scotland, SEHP worked in partnership with social enterprise letting agency Homes for Good, renovating empty homes to let to people on low incomes and experiencing homelessness, as an approach to provide more affordable private rental sector housing. There are some suppliers who are able to offer preferential rates to empty home owners undertaking works to bringthem back into use. What is the Council Tax unoccupied premium or levy? This also applies to landlords paying council tax on an empty property without a tenant. Firstly, the availability of a significant number of empty properties suitable for the intervention were located in a LA with significant demand for social housing stock. However, the study also noted that despite the valued work EHOs provide, all LAs did not have an EHO in place and some were not considering appointing one (Scottish Government 2019). The impact of this work is evident from the case studies in this report. The Woodnook regeneration scheme in Lancashire is an example which demonstrated gains that can be made in remodelling derelict houses through a partnership initiative. Perth and Kinross Councils empty homes initiative grants are distributed to enable unused properties to be used again. Seven million pounds in loans were allocated to the owners of empty homes from the National Empty Homes Fund, leveraging a further 12.5 million in funding which was reported as creating 'conditions of affordability' for 2500 homes to be brought back in to use (Grimshaw 2013). Both funds aim to increase the supply of affordable housing of all tenures in rural Scotland and contribute to our 50,000 affordable homes target. This impact report by the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP) covers the period 2021-22. As a practical example, the report highlighted the Giroscope project, delivered with grant funding from Hull City Council and generated from Right to Buy Receipts through its 'Right to Buy Replacement Programme Grant Fund', which has a component for refurbishment of empty housing. Empty dwelling management orders (EDMOs) and enforced sales procedures are the most common statutory powers in England and Wales, but these are not statutory powers in use in Scotland. This will then be assessed and the Empty Homes Officer and you will be notified of the outcome of your pre-application in writing. Argyll and Bute Council has discretionary empty homes grant and loans to support owners of long-term empty properties to bring homes back into use as affordable housing.