Barnsley empty houses article - great comments

[Zardoz]

Barnsley among top towns in UK for empty houses
 By Lynsey Bradford, Town Reporter 
Monday 1st July 2013
http://www.barnsley-chronicle.co.uk/news/article/6689/barnsley-among-top-towns-in-uk-for-empty-houses

There are more empty and derelict houses in Barnsley than almost anywhere in the country and now the council is getting £815,600 from the government to tackle the problem.
 
Communities minister Don Foster announced that towns across England will benefit from a cash injection to help bring back into use empty and derelict homes and commercial properties.

The money will be spent on 22 empty homes in the borough and the council has been awarded £335,000 plus an additional £480,687 after the town was identified as having an acute number of empty houses.

The funding will be spent on refurbishment where empty properties have led to problems such as squatting, rat infestation and falling house prices, driving remaining residents away.

Council leader Sir Steve Houghton said the money would be used on properties in the Dearne area which are owned privately.

"We're working with landlords to improve some of these houses to bring them back into use and will also put a management scheme in place to make sure that when we have spent the money, the houses are looked after."

Don Foster has also called on councils to sign up to TV presenter and restoration expert George Clarke's ten point review for housing regeneration areas.

The review supports `sweat equity schemes', whereby people buy empty properties for a nominal price in exchange for an undertaking to refurbish them.

The review also backs the government's stance that demolition of properties should only be a last resort.


Comments#
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 Posted by Tom I Mon 1st Jul 2013 at 5:07pm 

This is nothing but a subsidy for the already wealthy. I for one am angered that my taxes are to be given to a select few property owners, many of them who have multiple properties and are not even resident in the borough.
These people are going to be subsidised so that they can rent out their properties for private profit, no doubt funded by housing benefit.
I imagine quite a lot of the houses will be ex council houses that got bought via the right to buy.
The council could use compulsory purchase orders and pay below market value to bring these properties back into public ownership.
What the council should do, is place a tax on the empty properties, to force their owners to bring them back into use, or sell them to somebody else who will.
Working tenants should not be forced to subsidise private landlords through the tax system.

 Posted by John Malone I Mon 1st Jul 2013 at 5:29pm 
What can be done...and should be done is the following:-
The Council negotiates with the landlords to establish if they have the financial means to undertake the refurbishment themselves. If the answer is "Yes" they should set an agreed timescale for this work to be started/completed. A discount on the Council Tax for each property would then be awarded for a period of upto 12 months. If the answer is "No" and the owner does not have the resources to undertake the required work, then the council could negotiate the following:- Agree a schedule of work to be carried out to bring the property upto standard, then the Council "rents" the property from the owner for a period till the cost of repairs has been recovered - this would be done by the Council sub-letting the property and charging an appropriate rate. Once the costs have been recovered, the property could be "returned" to the owner....possibly with the existing new tenant still in residence 

Posted by Tom I Tue 2nd Jul 2013 at 12:55pm 
I fail to see how falling house prices drive people away. It was cheap housing what encouraged me to move to Barnsley. If the local authority is intent on driving house prices up, then I'll move away to somewhere cheaper.
 Posted by rainbow I Wed 3rd Jul 2013 at 4:12pm 

£815,600, to resurect homes for people to live in is peanuts when compared to the £7million spent revamping Barnsley Town Hall..Its time politicians got their priorities in order.!!