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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of dwellings that have been vacant for over (1) six months, and (2) two years; and what measures they are taking, including in conjunction with local authorities, to return empty dwellings to occupation.

The number of long term empty homes remains substantially lower than when records began. Long-term empty homes are those dwellings which have been unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for over six months. At May 2010 over 300,000 homes in England had been standing empty for longer than 6 months. As of November 2017 the number of long term empty properties had fallen to 206,236.

Authorities may charge a premium on those dwellings that have been empty and substantially unfurnished for more than 2 years. There were 60,900 dwellings on the 11 September 2017 that were empty and subject to the Empty Homes Premium. A premium can be charged on their council tax because the dwelling has been empty for more than 2 years. Not all authorities charge a premium, and these figures are based on the 288 out of 326 local authorities that charged a premium.

Local authorities have powers and strong incentives to tackle empty homes, and through the New Homes Bonus they earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one.

In addition, the Chancellor recently announced proposals to strengthen the powers available to local authorities to tackle empty homes. Local authorities will be able to charge a 100 per cent council tax premium (currently 50 per cent) to homes that have been empty for more than two years.

In the housing White Paper, the Government restated its commitment to continue to support local authorities to encourage efficient use of our existing stock, making best use of homes that are long-term empty to increase the supply of housing. The housing white paper can be accessed (attached) at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fixing-our-broken-housing-market

The Government believes this approach strikes the right balance between encouraging better use of the existing housing stock and having no unintended consequences.