Improve your house...or we’ll force you to sell it (From Echo)
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Improve your house...or we’ll force you to sell it
10:40am Thursday 18th March 2010 in
A BUNGALOW left empty for ten years has been brought back into use, thanks to Southend Council.
The council has the power to force homeowners to sell their properties if they have been left to get into a bad state.
If the owner still doesn’t sell up, the council can buy the house under a compulory purchase order and sell it to South Essex Homes, which manages the town’s council housing.
A three-bedroom bungalow in St James’ Avenue, Thorpe Bay, which had been empty for about ten years, has now been sold privately after the owner was found and persuaded to sell up.
Independent Thorpe Bay councillor Mike Stafford said the council was taking action to clean up run-down houses.
He added: “You have either got to use it or lose it.
“The empty homes officer gave the owner of the house in St James’ Avenue until the end of April to do something with it, and it has been sold.
“It is waiting now for somebody to move in and do something.”
The council can issue a notice to the landlord and if he or she does not sell or let, it is sold to the housing association and the owner will get the value of the house as it stands without any refurbishment and minus the council’s costs.
In a recent My View article in the Echo, ex-editor Jim Worsdale went back to the streets he grew up in and was horrified at what he saw as he walked around his old neighbourhood.
He was upset by a family house at the corner of Huntingdon Road and Northumberland Crescent, facing Southchurch Park, which had fallen into disrepair.
But the council has tracked down the owner and is going through the process to force them to clean it up or sell it.
Mr Worsdale said he was delighted action was being taken.
He added: “I think it is absolutely splendid and it is good certain things are happening.”
l A compulsory purchase order is a legal function in the UK which allows councils to obtain property for public interest purposes, such as land needed for roads or development, regardless of consent from the owner.
Comments(16)
j-w
says...
11:49am Thu 18 Mar 10
perini
says...
12:48pm Thu 18 Mar 10
Southendian
says...
12:52pm Thu 18 Mar 10
DannyK86
says...
1:13pm Thu 18 Mar 10
anon anon
says...
1:36pm Thu 18 Mar 10
DannyK86 wrote:agree, there are 'several nice' houses around being left to rot. dont know the circumstances behind them.... but well done the council
Good move by the council - when we have a housing shortage they shouldn't be wasted like this, plus empty properties often become magnets for vandals and squatters.
anon anon
says...
1:36pm Thu 18 Mar 10
DannyK86 wrote:agree, there are 'several nice' houses around being left to rot. dont know the circumstances behind them.... but well done the council
Good move by the council - when we have a housing shortage they shouldn't be wasted like this, plus empty properties often become magnets for vandals and squatters.
westcliff willi
says...
3:38pm Thu 18 Mar 10
thelonewhinger
says...
3:51pm Thu 18 Mar 10
Judging solely from the Echo's picture the bungalow seems in a reasonably tidy and sound state (might have been cleaned-up to sell?) and although I appreciate there are housing shortages etc. the owner of this property was apparently known to the council. Assuming there were no health and safety issues and that council tax was paid on the property (payable after 12 months unoccupancy if no structural work in progress) then I feel it is entirely at the discretion of the owner what he does with it.
Using the same principle would it be OK for the council to seize all the vacant and run-down commercial property in the town?
Mark D
says...
4:31pm Thu 18 Mar 10
Mark D
says...
4:34pm Thu 18 Mar 10
Mark D wrote:(I meant to attach this to Perini's earlier comment)
But, if you read the story, it's not just the fact the houses are empty - it is the fact that they are ALSO run down. In my opinion, it's an excellent policy that the council has adopted on this issue.
evilc
says...
5:45pm Thu 18 Mar 10
Miss D Meaner
says...
7:47pm Thu 18 Mar 10
In any case, what about the house in Belton Gardens, Leigh-on-Sea? It has had most of the roof tiles removed, perhaps so that the rain can get in and render it uninhabitable, thus requiring demolition. No doubt, this will probably be in the mind of whoever purchased it, quite some time ago. A developer, perhaps?
southendmechanic
says...
9:57pm Thu 18 Mar 10
Miss D Meaner wrote:i dont think this is about housing the free loaders. I believe it is about making people put empty propertys on the market.
I have some misgivings about this - this is, after all, a private dwelling, which one suspects will end up being occupied by, yet another, 'free-loader'. There are many reasons for a dwelling not being occupied; one of them being due to litigation surrounding a will (something we increasingly see) which can take years to resolve. Is there anything else that individuals own, that these local authorities covet? In any case, what about the house in Belton Gardens, Leigh-on-Sea? It has had most of the roof tiles removed, perhaps so that the rain can get in and render it uninhabitable, thus requiring demolition. No doubt, this will probably be in the mind of whoever purchased it, quite some time ago. A developer, perhaps?
There has been a shortage of houses and flats on the market and when there is a shortage of this kind house prices go up. This was an idea originally brought about by goverment and councils are encouraged to chase absent owners to force some decision.
Emptyproperty
says...
10:55am Fri 19 Mar 10
Government policy is that privately owned empty property cannot be left vacant without good reason.
The power to compulsorily purchase can be done on both qualitative grounds, i,e its an eyesore, or quantative grounds, i,e there is acute housing need.
As we live in such a crowded country, it is unreasonable for property to be left empty for no good reason.
I have been doing this for a living for nearly 20 years for various local authorities, and am pleased to see an authority local to where I live doing it.
www.paulpalmer-empty
properties.co.uk
thelonewhinger, benfleet says...
3:51pm Thu 18 Mar 10
A little worrying I feel.
Judging solely from the Echo's picture the bungalow seems in a reasonably tidy and sound state (might have been cleaned-up to sell?) and although I appreciate there are housing shortages etc. the owner of this property was apparently known to the council. Assuming there were no health and safety issues and that council tax was paid on the property (payable after 12 months unoccupancy if no structural work in progress) then I feel it is entirely at the discretion of the owner what he does with it.
Using the same principle would it be OK for the council to seize all the vacant and run-down commercial property in the town?
essexboi1989
says...
12:33pm Mon 22 Mar 10
some elderly people can't afford or arn't able to get out and maintain there property.
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Nebs says...
11:46am Thu 18 Mar 10