We know that long-term empty homes have a widespread impact on residents. They are also a wasted housing resource. If you live near or are affected by a long-term empty home, please report it. We might be aware and already taking action.
We need to prioritise our action on the worst empty homes, which have the most impact on our local communities. For this reason, enquiries received from residents are an important way for us to find out which properties we should focus on. We also use council lists to actively seek out properties which are recorded as being long-term empty.
Please do not be put off contacting us about an empty property. We have a series of ways to identify if a property is actually occupied, and if it is, no further action will be taken.
When to report an empty home
If you:
- believe an empty property is causing damage to your own home
- you are concerned about the safety of a property
Please report these to us and include as much detail as you can about your concerns.
Do not report:
- commercial premises
- holiday lets
- Airbnb’s
- occasionally occupied second homes
As we cannot take action on those properties.
What will happen next
Once we receive the address of a potentially empty home, we will carry out an initial review of the property to confirm if it is indeed empty.
If the property is not empty, no further action will be taken.
If the property is empty, we'll contact the person responsible or find them if we don't know who they are.
Reporting anonymously
You can report an empty property anonymously, but we would prefer it if you could provide us with your details. This enables us to contact you if we need further information. We can sometimes provide you with an update.
Due to data protection, we will not be able to provide any information about who owns the house and the reasons it is empty.