We work with owners to bring empty homes back into use. If you are the owner of a house that has been empty for more than six months, we may be able to help you.

The council will use a range of financial products, negotiations and enforcement to generate a robust turnaround in the empty property market.

We can offer PLACE Empty Home Loans to carry out repairs to make the property suitable for renting.

PLACE Empty Property Loans

We will investigate, using the flexibility offered by the Regulatory Reform Order 2002, a range of financial products, which will enable us to engage with property owners in order to help them bring their properties up to standard and into use.

At this time we can offer interest free loans for up to £50,000 for house owners who wish to renovate a property for sale or for rent.

PLACE Booklet (PDF, 358KB)

PLACE loans Booklet (PDF, 358KB)

Empty Homes Questionnaire (Word, 14.3KB)

Empty Homes Strategy

The Empty Homes Strategy 2024 -2027 (PDF 1.4MB) sets out our approach to managing the resource of empty homes within the borough. It should be read in conjunction with the Empty Homes Action Plan that sets out the details of how we will undertake the work required to return empty homes back into use. If you would like a copy of the action plan sent to you, please contact us by email.