Landlords and property owners in two districts of Lincolnshire are being offered cash to bring empty properties back into general use. The cash incentives on offer are part of the government’s Empty Homes Community Grants Programme. It is designed to help landlords let properties that have been unoccupied for a long time.
Do You Qualify?
To qualify for a cash grant of up to £5,000, the property must have been vacant for at least six months and the landlord must be willing to re-let it to tenants for less than the Local Housing Allowance weekly rate. Any work carried out on the property must be completed within 12 months and the property let within that time.
In some parts of the UK, there are a staggeringly high number of empty properties. In total, nearly 21,000 homes are vacant. The worst place is London, where there is £1.7 billion of vacant homes in Kensington and Chelsea. Outside London, just over 4,000 homes are empty in Bradford.
Solving the Housing Crisis
This is a huge waste of property and if just some of the vacant homes were brought back into use, it would go some of the way towards solving the current housing crisis.
The law changed ten years ago and local authorities now have the power to use compulsory purchase orders to seize empty homes. However, many experts believe that not enough is being done to get to grips with the problem of vacant properties, particularly in London, where there is a chronic shortage of homes.
