Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of using of Empty Dwelling Management Orders to help increase available housing.

Local authorities can use an Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMO) to increase available housing by bringing empty homes back into use.

Local authorities can apply for an EDMO when a property has been empty for more than two years. This is subject to the production of evidence that the property has been causing a nuisance to the community and evidence of community support for the proposal. Local authorities publish local guidance on how they use them.

Local authorities have a range of wider powers and incentives to bring empty homes back into use, which include discretionary powers to charge council tax premiums on properties which have been left unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for one or more years, and local authorities receive the same level of reward for bringing an empty home back into use as they would for building a new one through the New Homes Bonus.

The government wants to support local authorities in bringing empty properties back into use and we outlined our intent to strengthen their ability to take over the management of vacant residential properties in the English Devolution White Paper.