The establishment of an Empty Property Database.
In order to ensure that we have accurate information about our targeted 'hot spots' in the City we have established a comprehensive database of empty properties in these areas.
The database helps us to target resources in order to regenerate housing stock that is in poor condition; as well as aiding us to forecast housing needs in the target areas. It assists us in the formulation and targeting of strategies that we have designed to help resolve some of the causes of empty property; such as problems with vandalism, crime and rubbish dumping.
The database also identifies properties that have been empty for over six months. This prompts us to contact the owner or agent with an offer of assistance in an attempt to get the property back into use quickly.
The Investors In Leeds Register
The Investors in Leeds Register is an initiative by Leeds City Council to match private landlords and developers seeking to purchase empty properties in suitable locations. The initiative is available to landlords and developers, approved or ‘accredited’ under the Leeds Landlords Accreditation Scheme. In order to gain accreditation they need to meet a number of criteria, such as agreeing to respond to repairs within a set timescale.
The initiative consists of a register (data base) of these selected investors who have expressed an interest in purchasing additional properties within Leeds into their portfolio. They are asked to declare which districts within the City they are interested in investing in and the details are then put onto the Investors in Leeds database. Owners of long-term empty properties are contacted throughout the city and issued with an area specific schedule of the appropriate investors in order that they can then consider contacting and negotiating the sale of their property with these interested parties.
This initiative has proved to be an essential element to the Council’s Empty Property Strategy and has resulted in many dozens of empty properties returning back into use, especially in areas where Local Property Agents show little interest in representing property.
The Leeds Homes - Choice Based Letting Scheme
This scheme was originally set up to provide prospective new customers with choice in the allocation of social housing through choice-based lettings and the adoption of local lettings polices in order to ensure consistency and to help address the rising demand for housing and related `waiting lists’ and a reduction in unoccupied social housing. The initiative was also devised to help address the issues of imbalance and to prevent concentrations of disadvantaged groups.
However, now that the scheme has become well established within the social housing sector and, because of the decrease in the supply of social housing in the city, it is considered appropriate to include `accredited’ private landlords within the CBL service in support of a truly holistic approach to housing provision throughout Leeds. Properties across both the social and the private rented sector are now advertised on a weekly basis via the weekly published flyer and upon the Leeds Homes website and this is proving to be successful, in that, empty property within these housing sectors are quickly turned around and re-occupied thereby making best possible use of the housing supply.
The establishment of Empty Property Steering Groups and Forums in the target areas
The usual make-up of these groups is as follows:
- Project Manager - Empty Property Strategy
- Area Management (for the specific target area)
- The Arms Length Management Organizations
- Environmental Health Services
- Development Department
- Registered Social Landlords
- Estate / Lettings Agents
- Private Sector Landlords
- Financial Institutions - Banks, Building Societies
- Developers
- Elected Ward Members & MP (for the specific target area)
- Community Leaders
- West Yorkshire Police
- West Yorkshire Fire Service
- Regeneration Partnership Unit
- Resident’s representatives
- Anti-social Behaviour Unit
- Neighbourhood Wardens
Yorkshire and Humberside Empty Property Practitioners' Forum Membership
Leeds City Council has signed up, and has become actively involved, with the Yorkshire and Humberside Empty Property Practitioners' Forum. The forum comprises 23 representatives from Local Authorities in the region, and its main aims are as follows:
- To co-ordinate and represent the views of the Housing Authorities involved in empty property strategies in Yorkshire and Humberside;
- To share experience of empty property issues and initiatives;
- To help identify best practice by comparison with the policies of member authorities and partners;
- To identify any performance gaps;
- To address any mutual educational issues;
- To increase lobbying of central Government for changes in legislation, strategy and policy in order to facilitate the revitalisation of empty properties which are viable and which reflect the housing needs of the region;
- To focus central Government's attention upon the problems that contribute to properties' becoming empty for long periods, and to examine the issues of area decline and low demand.
Empty Property/Environmental Awareness Projects in partnership with local schools
High levels of empty property in a community can blight an area, attract crime, encourage anti-social behaviour and sometimes pose a threat to safety.
Children in local schools who live in the target areas have explored some of these issues You can find an example of this in the document which you can download on this page - Greenmount Primary School Empty Property Project Booklet
Good Practice Award
Many organisations see The Leeds City Council Empty Property Strategy as an exemplary model for the North of England. It has even attracted the attention of the national organisation, the Empty Homes Agency. They nominated the Leeds Empty Property Strategy as an example of good practice, and included a link on their web site. This scheme formed the `pilot' for the strategy, which Leeds City Council has since adopted throughout the City.
The Empty Homes Agency invited Jon Hough, lead officer for the Empty Property Strategy for a Westminster briefing/brainstorming session with the aim of returning England's empty properties back into habitable use. He represented Leeds City Council along with delegates from twelve other Local Authorities.
Jon was also invited to sit on the advisory group that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister set up for their guidance document ` Empty Property - Unlocking the Potential’.