Empty homes

Demand for housing is growing - but not enough new homes are being built. As at March 2016, there are more than 750 households in North West Leicestershire waiting for affordable rented housing.

Across the district there are currently in the region of 900 empty properties, with over 150 of these having been empty for over 2 years!

So it makes sense to do all we can to identify empty homes, and bring them back into use. 

It’s not just about helping people find a home – empty houses blight our neighbourhoods. They affect everyone.

As far as privately owned empty homes go, we aim to advise on improving these to return them into homes - assuming we can track down the owner!

In 2012 we published a consultation paper asking for your ideas about how to tackle the problem. Your views helped us to produce our Returning Houses to Homes Policy and Procedures (PDF Document, 0.1 Mb) document that describes in more detail how we will direct action towards bringing empty houses in private ownership back into use.

In 2016 we appointed an empty homes officer to visit empty properties to discuss ideas for bringing them back into occupation, who can be contacted on 01530 454864.

Processes to follow if your property should become empty:

Please call us straight away on 01530 454545, to advise your home is empty, to pass your details onto our council tax and empty homes department.  It may be that you are entitled to a discount on your council tax, please refer to the Council Tax page on our website, or to call Revenues the number is 01530 454499.

Download 'Empty property notification form' now

Considering selling or letting your property?:  There are a number of Estate Agents in the area who can offer you a valuation, and advice on this.  To be able to let or sell the property, you will have to hold an Energy performance Certificate for the property which displays Energy ratings, so this is something that you could start to arrange!

If the property is a deceased estate: one of the first things to do is to contact a solicitor to register the property for probate.  This is a process that will need to be in place if you wish to sell the property.

If the owner of the property is elderly, and is considering vacating their long term home, we would encourage you to visit the Age UK website for advice and options regarding residential care.

Finally:

It is very likely that your current buildings insurance is invalid if the property becomes empty for long periods of time. Insurance premiums for empty properties are usually higher.  You will need to contact your insurance provider.

The council encourages the reporting of empty properties to us.  Once we know this, we are able to monitor and advise.