• Home
  • About
  • Clinic
  • Books
  • Freebies
  • Training
    • Workshops and Online Training
    • Landlord Law Conference
    • Legal Kits
  • Library
  • Landlord Law

The Landlord Law Blog

From landlord and tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson

  • Home
  • Posts
  • News & comment
  • Cases
  • Tenants
    • Penalties for breaching tenancy rules
    • 15 Places for tenant help
  • Clinic
  • Podcasts
    • Interview
    • Surgery
  • Snippets
  • Series
    • Analysis
    • should law and justice be free
    • HMO Basics
    • Tenancy Agreements 33 days
    • Airbnb
    • Grounds for Eviction
    • The Deregulation Act Explained
    • Tips

Empty homes – a problem or an opportunity?

December 11, 2012 by Samir

empty homesJournalist Samir Jeraj explores the question of empty homes and people doing it for themselves

Government has seen the wisdom of funding empty homes work and announced that they will be providing £300m in funding to councils, housing associations and charities to bring 5000 long term empty properties back into use.

The actual number of empty homes varies, as the statistics aren’t entirely accurate. Empty Homes states that 710 000 homes are empty in England with 259 000 homes being long-term empty. Statistics aren’t published in Wales and Northern Ireland, so Empty Homes estimates that UK-wide there are 920 000 empty homes with 330 000 long term empty.

Renovation of homes is a cheaper way of providing housing, with the average cost of renovation at £10,000. It’s also a way for people to come together to control and shape their housing, and by extension their lives.

Several charities and organisations have been working with volunteers and tenants on bringing empty homes back into use for decades now.

Housing innovation in Hull

Giroscope in Hull was started by a group of political activists in the 1980s. Spurred on by the idea of creating an alternative to the policies of the Thatcher Government, they pooled their Giro cheques to buy an empty property. They then renovated it, learning building skills in the process, and rented it out at low cost and moved on to another empty house.

By 2007, when they became a charity, Giroscope had 40 residential properties and 9 business premises and were successfully operating as a social enterprise in the private rented housing market.

Elsewhere

This community based housing model has been applied elsewhere such as Leeds, where Canopy was founded in 1998 to renovate and provide affordable housing.

Reusing empty homes can provide a great opportunity for new models of housing, whether co-op, private rented, or something completely different.

And maybe in YOUR area?

The funding is there for the taking. Hopefully we’ll see more community-based housing projects like Giroscope and Canopy which provide long-term affordable housing.

Samir Jeraj

Empty homes picture

Print Friendly

Filed Under: News and comment Tagged With: Samir Jeraj

IMPORTANT: Please check the date of the post above - remember, if it is an old post, the law may have changed since it was written.

You should always get independent legal advice before taking any action.

Notes on comments:

For personal landlord and tenant related problems, please use our >> Blog Clinic.
Note that we do not publish all comments, please >> click here to read our terms of use and comments policy. Comments close after three months.

Keep up with the news on Landlord Law blog!

To get posts sent direct to your email in box click here
« What to do about a co-tenant who fails to pay rent
F is for Furniture »

Comments

  1. Neil Griffiths says

    December 30, 2012 at 1:27 PM

    I’d love to see this as an opportunity to increase the number of affordable, good condition housing available for the less well off.

    Having already ready some of the Ts and Cs of my local council, however, I remain unconvinced.

“Interesting posts on residential landlord & tenant law and practice - in England & Wales UK”

Subscribe to the Landlord Law Blog by email

Never miss another post!

Choose whether you want to get
>> all posts or just the
>> weekly roundups

You will also get a FREE Ebook!

The Landlord Law Conference

Find out how to get up to date with the law in just one day!

 

  • Find out more

Almost a winner …

Property Press Awards Shortlist 2017

Get Your Free Ebook:

Click to get your Free Ebook

>> Click Here for Your Free Copy

Featured Post

Bad news for Landlords on Section 21 and Gas Safety Certificates

Bad news for Landlords on Section 21 and Gas Safety Certificates

If you are new to the blog >> click here

Worried about Insurance?

Landlord Law Insurance Mini-Course

Landlord Law Critical Information Emails

Alert!Get notified when the law (housing / landlord & tenant) changes

>> Click here

Some of our Other Services:

Disclaimer

The purpose of this blog is to provide information, comment and discussion.

Although Tessa, or guest bloggers, may from time to time, give helpful comments to readers' questions, these can only be based on the information given by the reader in his or her comment, which may not contain all material facts.

Any comments or suggestions provided by Tessa or any guest bloggers should not, therefore be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice from a qualified lawyer regarding any actual legal issue or dispute.

Nothing on this website should be construed as legal advice or perceived as creating a lawyer-client relationship (apart from the Fast Track block clinic service - so far as the questioners only are concerned).

Please also note that any opinion expressed by a guest blogger is his or hers alone, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tessa Shepperson, or the other writers on this blog.

Cookies

You can find out more about our use of 'cookies' on this website here.

Associated sites

Landlord Law
Tenant Law
My Books
Easy Law Training
Landlord Law Conference Site
Landlord Law Services

Legal

Landlord Law Blog is © 2006 – 2018 Tessa Shepperson.

Note that Tessa is an introducer for Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers and will get a commission from sales made via links on this website.

© 2006–2018 Tessa Shepperson | Rainmaker Platform | Contact Page | Log in