10:40am Thursday 18th March 2010
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.
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