Empty properties
Case reference FOI2025/01057
Received 2 June 2025
Published 1 July 2025
Request
1) What’s the current number of empty properties and long term empty properties across the council, as of June 2?
If a figure is not available for June 2, please provide the most up-to-date figure available and state the date for which that figure is accurate.
How many of those are owned by the council?
What were the numbers as of 2 June 2019, in terms again of empty properties, long term empty properties, and council-owned empty/long term empty properties?
2) How many people were on the social housing waiting lists on those two dates?
3) What’s the reason that the long term empty properties are currently void? Please provide a breakdown by void status – i.e. classifying them as available (Undergoing works, Ready for Occupation, TA: Ready for letting, Long cycle void group, Major Works, Minor repairs), temporarily unavailable (Unauthorised Occupant, Squatted, Capital void, Redevelopment), and permanently unavailable (Demolition, Disposal) or a similar classification method that you use.
4) Since 2019, have you undertaken any work around reducing your long term empty properties? If you have, was this done using internal resources, third party resources, or both?
5) How many properties were brought back into use as a result in each of those years since 2019?
What were the average financial costs per property, in order for them to be brought back into use?
6) What work is the council currently undertaking and what is it planning to undertake when it comes to reducing its long term empty properties?
7) Does the council offer financial support, in terms of grants or loans, to Long Term Empty property owners to help them bring properties back into use?
If yes, how many owners have made use of that in every year since 2019?
8) What’s the budget, if any, that the council has allocated for supporting the reduction of empty properties?
Please provide such data electronically, ideally as an Excel spreadsheet.
Response
1) What’s the current number of empty properties and long term empty properties across the council, as of June 2?
If a figure is not available for June 2, please provide the most up-to-date figure available and state the date for which that figure is accurate.
How many of those are owned by the council?
What were the numbers as of 2 June 2019, in terms again of empty properties, long term empty properties, and council-owned empty/long term empty properties?
2) How many people were on the social housing waiting lists on those two dates?
3) What’s the reason that the long term empty properties are currently void? Please provide a breakdown by void status – i.e. classifying them as available (Undergoing works, Ready for Occupation, TA: Ready for letting, Long cycle void group, Major Works, Minor repairs), temporarily unavailable (Unauthorised Occupant, Squatted, Capital void, Redevelopment), and permanently unavailable (Demolition, Disposal) or a similar classification method that you use.
4) Since 2019, have you undertaken any work around reducing your long term empty properties? If you have, was this done using internal resources, third party resources, or both?
5) How many properties were brought back into use as a result in each of those years since 2019?
What were the average financial costs per property, in order for them to be brought back into use?
6) What work is the council currently undertaking and what is it planning to undertake when it comes to reducing its long term empty properties?
7) Does the council offer financial support, in terms of grants or loans, to Long Term Empty property owners to help them bring properties back into use?
If yes, how many owners have made use of that in every year since 2019?
8) What’s the budget, if any, that the council has allocated for supporting the reduction of empty properties?
Please provide such data electronically, ideally as an Excel spreadsheet.
Answer: The information requested for question 3 is not held in a form that would enable it to be located, retrieved and extracted within the Appropriate Time Limit which equates to 18 hours as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Our electronic reporting systems are unable to run a report for this information. To ascertain the data requested, officers would need to manually check individual files for this information. An initial search has shown that 1,713 files would need to be checked for this information, and it is estimated that it would take 5 minutes to check each file. Once the details had been identified this would need to be noted and once all files had been checked in this way, the total figures requested could be calculated.
This would at a conservative estimate take at least 142 hours to complete. Where the Limit is exceeded Public Authorities are not obliged to supply the information requested by virtue of S12 of the Act. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
However, within the 18 hour limit, we can provide answers for questions 1-2 and questions 4-8 as requested. Please advise us if this is something you require.
Documents
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