Empty homes

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Bringing homes back into use

With our vision and ambition of 100 Flourishing Communities and a priority to promote housing growth that meets the current and emerging needs of North Kesteven, we are committed to bringing empty homes back into use. It is necessary to ensure that homes do not remain empty unnecessarily and fall into misuse and dereliction. The council has an Empty Property Working Group which looks at the more problematic vacant homes in the district. This might include homes subject to vandalism and antisocial behaviour, or where the condition of the home is detrimental to the neighbourhood.

Owners of empty properties

Leaving a property empty can also cause problems for the owners, such as loss of potential income, and liability to pay premium rates of Council Tax (up to 200%). Therefore it is important to contact us for support and advice as soon as possible. We are able to offer advice and information to owners on the options available.

If you are the owner of an empty property, please complete and email this questionnaire to the empty homes team if you would like some advice or assistance.

If you are thinking of buying an empty home, or have recently bought or inherited one, we can provide support, assistance in the refurbishment of the property.

Report an empty home

Is there an empty home near you? Let us know about it and we’ll do everything we can to contact the owner and help them to bring the home back into use. Please share with us anything that you know about the property - perhaps how long it’s been empty, or whether it’s causing any issues for neighbours etc.

What else are we doing?

We encourage owners to work with us to reach a solution in order to bring their property back into use. As a last resort, under specific circumstances we may pursue enforcement action where the owner is not engaging in finding a solution to bring a long term empty property back into use. Some of the tools which can be used to bring properties back into use are:

  • Formal notices to make a property safe, secure or tidy.

  • Empty dwelling Management Orders (EDMO’s)

  • Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO’s)

  • Enforced Sale

However, we will not use enforcement action until all other avenues have been exhausted. 

Please note that we do not publish lists of empty properties in the district. However, do contact the Empty Homes Officer if you have any enquiries related to particular property.