Calls to ditch council powers to seize vacant homes

Modular housebuilder Project Etopia has called on the government to scrap the powers that enable local authorities to take over empty homes, after it discovered their use has collapsed.

Through a freedom of information request the firm discovered the use of empty dwelling management orders (EDMOs) to seize vacant properties fell to just six last year.

Introduced in 2006, even at their peak in 2012 only 41 EDMOs were issued, despite hundreds of thousands of homes lying vacant across the country.

Project Etopia said EDMOs were “too difficult to administer” and needed to be replaced “with powers councils can actually use”.

Recent figures from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government revealed more than 205,000 long-term vacant properties in England, the housebuilder said. While the introduction of EDMOs was “well-meaning it is clear the policy is not working”.

Project Etopia’s chief executive Joseph Daniels said “If EDMOs are too difficult to obtain, then these powers should be replaced by a new scheme that councils are able to use more effectively.

“Councils want to return empty homes to use and we should be supporting them in doing that. Local authorities should be given new powers that recognise the challenges involved, from respecting the difficult circumstances that can sometimes result in these homes sitting vacant to the rights of those who own these properties.”

But Daniels warned against playing politics with the situation. “This is a cross-party issue that urgently needs the attention of everyone in Westminster.

“Politicians need to come together in the national interest to see that EDMOs are replaced or reformed.”

An MHCLG spokesperson said: “All local authorities in England have the power to charge extra on council tax bills when homes have been empty for at least two years. Since April this went up from 50% to 100%.”

Through the New Homes Bonus local authorities earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. 

 Source: Ministry of Justice in response to FOI request by Project Etopia