Rough sleepers

If you are concerned about someone who you think is rough sleeping, you can send an alert to StreetLink.

Contact us

We want to improve access to decent, affordable housing by bringing empty homes back into use.

Long-term empty homes can cause problems for surrounding communities. With an increase in housing need, it represents a wasted resource.

If you are an owner of an empty property, we want to help and support you to bring it back into use.

You can contact us to get help and advice about what you can do with your empty property.

You can read our Empty Homes Strategy.

Interest free loan

We offer interest free loans to bring empty homes back into use.

The PLACE Empty Homes Loan Scheme is currently the only loan we have available to assist the owners of empty properties.

VAT reductions

If you own an empty property and are planning to carry out renovation works to the property, you may be eligible to receive a reduced VAT rate. You can contact us to find out if you are eligible.

We can then provide you with a letter confirming your property is registered as a long term empty property and is eligible for a VAT reduction. The VAT reduction applies to labour and materials associated with repairs and alterations. The property must have been empty for at least two years to qualify.

If you can't bring a property back into use

If you can't bring a property back into use, we may use a number of legal powers to try and get the property renovated and re-occupied.

These powers include:

  • compulsory purchase orders
  • enforced sale
  • empty dwelling management orders

We will only take enforcement action where it is necessary.

We also have powers to intervene if an empty property: 

  • is damaging neighbouring properties
  • is causing a public health hazard
  • is not secure

Is there something wrong with this page?

You can report issues with the website using our website feedback form, which will go directly to the Web Team. This team will be unable to deal with your enquiry if it is not related to the website.