North Devon Council offers support to homeowners during National Empty Homes Week

North Devon Council will be getting behind homeowners with vacant properties as it pledges its commitment to National Empty Homes Week.

Commencing on March 4, this annual campaign provides a crucial platform for local authorities to shine a spotlight on available assistance for owners of empty properties while offering guidance to concerned residents on reporting vacant homes in their neighbourhoods.

With this, the council is encouraging property owners to make their unused properties useful again through housing initiatives.

Among these initiatives are:

• Strategic partnership with Lendology: Extending affordable loans to homeowners for the purpose of renovating, developing, and repurposing their properties, thereby injecting much-needed housing stock into the area.
• Innovative private sector leasing scheme: Providing a lifeline for landowners seeking tenants, thereby alleviating housing demand pressures while ensuring landlords maintain financial stability through council tax coverage and a steady income stream.
• Dynamic matchmaker service: Facilitating connections between owners of empty properties and potential buyers, investors, or developers, fostering property transactions and utilisation.
• Proactive efforts to identify long-term vacant properties: Tracking down and engaging with the next of kin of deceased owners to provide support and guidance on probate matters, unlocking dormant housing resources.
• Council tax premium enforcement: Leveraging government powers to levy a council tax premium on properties left empty for more than one year, with plans to extend this initiative to all second homes by April 2025, incentivizing action by property owners.
• Targeted intervention on properties with significant council tax arrears: Taking decisive action to recover debts, prompting some owners to sell their vacant homes or settle arrears, thus revitalising stagnant housing stock.

Central to this drive is Lendology, a socially conscious lender offering tailored empty property loans that spread out renovation costs, catering to a diverse range of applicants, from individual inheritors to corporate entities managing property portfolios.

Councillor Graham M Bell, Lead Member for Housing at North Devon Council said: "National Empty Homes Week is a great opportunity to promote the support we are able to provide to empty home owners, and those impacted by empty homes.

"I am very pleased to see that Lendology has been listed as one of the Big Issue's "Top 10 Changemakers in 2024.”

Homeowners seeking support or wishing to report empty homes can access comprehensive information and advice via the council's dedicated Empty Homes Project webpage at www.northdevon.gov.uk/housing/empty-homes-project.