Lancaster City Council takes action on empty homes
Owners of empty properties are being urged to work with Lancaster City Council to bring their vacant assets back into use
Property before and after intervention from empty homes team
In the last year the council has had direct involvement in bringing 69 properties back into occupation through negotiation and intervention.
These are properties that would have potentially otherwise sat empty but are now providing much needed accommodation.
Coun Andrew Warriner, Lancaster City Council’s Cabinet member for housing and environmental health, said: “Long term empty homes are a wasted resource and are also well-known for becoming unsightly and targets for vandalism, crime and anti-social behaviour.
“The city council is keen to see them brought back into use and I would urge owners to get in touch with us to see how we can help.”
Funding is available to bring properties back into use through a partnership between the city council and Methodist Action North West.
The partnership started in 2012 and has seen 21 long term empty properties successfully brought back into use with the help of grant funding.
Methodist Action, with the support of the city council, offers a ‘one stop shop’ approach for owners, including 'enabling’ financial contributions to the building work costs and co-ordination of the refurbishment process.
For the homeowner, the programme provides a low risk, low cost option for bringing their empty property back into use. For the community, it helps reduce the effects of anti-social behaviour, vandalism and theft, associated with empty properties.
If you are aware of a problem empty property in your area or own a property that you would like to discuss, please contact Claire Taylor on (01524) 582321 or cdtaylor@lancaster.gov.uk.
Last updated: 24 October 2017