With increasing pressure on the demand for housing and meeting those needs, the Isle of Wight Council is encouraging people to bring their empty properties back into use and tackle their negative impact on neighbourhoods during Empty Homes Week 2024. Empty Homes Week (4th-10th March) aims to demonstrate the problems that long-term empty homes can cause for residents and urge people to assist in meeting housing needs on the Island. An empty home is a residential property that has remained vacant and substantially unfurnished for 6 months or more. There are exemptions such as when a person goes into care. In total, the Island has around 740 empty properties (1% of the overall housing stock) of which 135 have been left empty for more than 2 years. Empty homes can have a significant impact on social, environmental, and financial issues, which can include overgrown gardens, unsightly appearance, anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping, vandalism and graffiti. The council offers advice, assistance and options designed to help the owners of empty homes to bring these properties back into use. It also has an Empty Property Strategy which aims to bring long-term empty properties back into use to increase the supply of quality and affordable homes for Island residents and in turn reduce the impact of empty properties on local communities. The Empty Property Strategy objectives are to:
- Maintain relevant, accurate and up to date information relating to empty homes on the Island;
- Bring empty homes back into use by encouragement and advice to property owners;
- Consider options for acting when negotiations fail to bring empty homes back into use;
- Raise awareness of the Empty Property Strategy (Residential) with residents, property owners and community, town and parish councils.
Following a decision by Full Council last week, premiums for empty properties will now kick in after just 1 year, not the current 2. The change means owners of properties which have remained empty for 12 months or more will be liable to pay an extra 100% in council tax on top of the standard rate from next month. Councillor Ian Stephens, Cabinet member for housing, said:
“The council wants to work with owners so please contact us if you feel we can help. “We understand that not everyone wants to engage, however the council does have enforcement interventions, including if all else fails, compulsory purchase orders (CPO), to acquire the property, to get homes back into use. “When a property is empty for a long time, it can fall into disrepair, get tagged and vandalised, or used by squatters. Empty properties are also a wasted resource that could provide much-needed homes. “We remain committed to bringing long-term homes back into use, to assist in meeting housing demand and increasing the availability of affordable housing. “We wish to work with owners, residents and other partner agencies to identify and return to use those properties that have remained vacant for a long period of time, and which can have such a significant detrimental effect on an area, attracting vandalism, anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping.”
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For more empty property information and support, visit the council’s website.
There’s a large ugly building right in the middle of Newport called the council offices that is pretty empty, should we start with that one? Could probably house 100+ people given its size
pretty empty??
Most days, other than the weekend, there will be in excess of 300 people inside.
What is your definition of pretty empty?
That is home to a large number of over paid old farts.
The last few visits to that place raised my brow.Never seen so many hijabs in one place and all seemingly being ‘processed ‘ for residency ?
When you over heat the housing market by not solving the housing shortage people are going to do the obvious thing, and using housing as a store of wealth. Well done Tories, you played yourselves.
If you get left a house by a relative and you don’t need the money, just leave it to rot. It’ll be better than in the bank. Where else you get 10% every year???
It isn’t just private homes. In Ryde alone we have the massive Royal York Hotel closed for nearly 20 years, the empty St Mary’s Catholic Convent School, the wreck that was the Vectis Hall and the huge Town Hall.
The Royal York is a disgrace, it’s been empty too long.
An easy way to bring these vacant homes back into use is to give the addresses to the couple thousand homeless island folk as they ain’t got a hope of getting somewhere to live through the council.
Tell them to go forth but do not multiply
There are less than 10 homeless people on the island.
There are over two thousand on the council housing register that are sofa surfing or staying in bed and breakfast or homeless.
Just because they are not sleeping on park benches it doesn’t make them housed.
No there aren’t. You just made it up. They are on the housing register to get subsidised housing when they should be working hard to buy a small flat in Newport.
Wave your magic wand and make everything OK then. Have you seen the prices of flats and houses? Also there’s not much well paid work here abouts, or haven’t you noticed that?
If you can’t find a well paid job, move to an area with better paid jobs. That is what most of us have done. Be brave and live your life rather than moaning and expecting handouts.
There are quite a few well paid jobs here, the only problem is you need qualifications to even apply. Some were not or are not prepared to study. When my parents bought their house in the 60s they had to for go luxuries to buy it, something that they are not prepared to do now.
You really have no idea do you,no1 most jobs on the island are low paid,no2 who in their right mind would want to buy a small flat in newport?
no3 most people dont have the money for a deposit.
sounds like you are looking down from your retired ivory tower in rural wight sneering at people less fortunate.
a brainwashed tory maybe?
that still is deluded enough to think they are doing a good job?
give your head a wobble john,and go change your sanitary pad,you utter snob.
Well plenty of us started off buying a cheap flat and then moved up the housing ladder. That is how it works. If you can afford a flat in Newport for less than £100k, why wouldn’t you buy one rather than expecting us to subsidise your life? If you haven’t got a deposit, get a second job and save money like plenty of us did when we were young. Work hard and look after yourself. Take pride in looking after yourself.
Yes, and the tooth fairy is real.
Perhaps these top Councillors could find room in their large gardens to put in ‘temporary’ caravans or even build homes to ease the housing problem?
Yet anyone with any sense surely can see that it is not just ‘coincidence’ that since massive imm-igration into the UK, that housing has become in short supply.
As the amount arriving is NEVER ending, as they can breed faster than we can build a house, then it is this which needs addressing.
Whilst the dim assume that few are here, it is the FACT that displaced mainland indigenous then MOVE here to escape towns they no longer feel safe or comfortable in.
So address the root problem. THINK
For gawds sake would you just stop with your ridiculous unchecked assumption?
You say 97% are white British.?
Have you watched TV adverts lately.? Everyone is not in the 97%
Have you looked at Facebook adverts lately.?
Everyone is not in the 97%
Have you watched TV documentary dramas lately.?
Albert Einstein and King Henry and Queen Elizabeth 1st plus other well known people of history are now represented by your remaining 3%
Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are arriving in the UK every year, and we can’t chuck them out because Karen starts crying about human rights.
Don’t worry about our human rights Karen, no, don’t worry about women being attacked, the increase in acid attacks, the robberies, etc.
Throw all of these people out who have come to the UK over the past twenty years.
You have human rights. A home, food, the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education.
I am a woman who has been attacked. By a white British male, and a non white British male came to my aid.
As for Facebook, well no. I believe in facts, not right-wing algorithms and rhetoric.
Some of my friends are the 3% that you mentioned, they have jobs, houses, families, food, life, freedom from torture and liberty, freedom of rights and expression, they take offence at the 97% of people bleating on about it and going on marches, on their behalf.
The poor folk among the 97% didn’t have this freedom a couple of hundred years or a couple of thousand years ago but we don’t cry about it now, we don’t need a special month.
You only need to look at the completly unnecessary planned £1million war memorial to Muslims who lost their lives fighting for the UK in the two World wars to understand that we 97% are being forgotten about, erased.
I’m calling BS on your claims karen.
no evidence to support it, no belief in it.
But some of the human rights need to be paid for by the person who wants them, like food and a home you need to provide these your self!
Karen HENCE my comment : “Whilst the dim assume that few are here, it is the FACT that displaced mainland indigenous then MOVE here to escape towns they no longer feel safe or comfortable in.”
So whilst we have few newcomers to the UK here, we are having to accept displaced indigenous who are coming here, BECAUSE we have few newcomers from outside the UK.
Se it still adds to our problems, in a lesser degree but causes more countryside to be built on.
Most would rejoice that we are low density and not see such as a negative. Perhaps you would be happier moving into such delightful inner city areas and free up a home for a displaced geriatric?
None of that makes sense, and you still haven’t backed it up with facts. We’re talking about here. Yes, true islanders are now in the minority, mainland migrants live here. Generally second home owners. Historically people have migrated within these shores, my own family has roots in England, Ireland Scotland and Wales. It was economic, not fear based. Original Islanders hailed from Germanic Europe. Our ‘problems’ are that we are relatively poor, and kept that way by design. Look at, say, the difference in council tax between us and Westminster. We pay over twice as much. They have no housing/education crisis. They don’t use NHS. If you want to point a finger at anyone just make sure it’s justified. Comin’ over ‘ere, taking our ‘ouses…
Keep banging that xenophobia drum IV.
Also, UK population has increased by almost 8 million since 1980. Most of those are British. 8 million houses have not been built. Recent increases in immigration have been international students (which our uni’s rely heavily on) and workers to prop up the NHS and care sectors. They all need housing, and it’s worth bearing in mind that just 2% of the UK is inhabited land. Also bear in mind that over that period 4.7million Brits emigrated abroad…for economic reasons and a better life….
Nice weather today. Bit chilly still but lovely having the sun back. Get out there, forget all your worries, and enjoy being alive.
wrong karen -from the hansard…
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-06-27/debates/18903CC8-FF6B-4D42-B361-D8B4FC404B24/PopulationGrowthImpactOfImmigration#:~:text=To%20be%20clear%20about%20the,that%20figure%20for%20a%20moment.
To be clear about the relationship to population, migration alone accounts for 57.5% of population growth in England and Wales. Since 2001, the UK population has increased by 8 million, of which nearly 7 million was due to immigration. Just imagine that figure for a moment.
Never mind the empty properties,what about the empty heads?
I will inherit a house in years to come, to go with the house in inherited 12 years ago which I live in, having sold my own property. But I would never rent my properties out as a landlord you have no rights. The best thing to do would be to sell the empty property for the highest price.
Well said Sarah – I agree, being a private landlord these days, is wrought with danger – from disgusting low life tenants that won’t pay the rent, trash the place and won’t leave, to a system that makes it as difficult as possible for a landlord to make a living from it.
Totally agree – tenants have all the rights it has taken me over a year to evict a tenant, a tenant who has plenty of money to move on but bleats about having to money blah blah blah …
How can the council force people to rent their properties out – it’s not theirs! In any case the council don’t have the money for court cases let alone compulsory purchase peoples property.
Quite right sell at the first opportunity.
Landlords are selling up by the barrel load because of the stupid nonsense rules that are being enforced on landlords week by week – it’s not going to get any better either.
My idea is that if you have 2 houses 1 Main home and another by the sea why does it matter if one is empty, if all the bills are paid, surely that is up to the person who owns it. I have a car its taxed mot and insured, I hardly drive it but its there if I need to, so what next will I have to rent it out to someone who does not have a car, but needs one, how far is going to go. Some people work hard get qualified to get Good jobs, they buy 2 house Their money to do what they want.
I was left a house and as I had bought the one that I lived in I rented the house out to a young couple with one child. They were both in work, in so called decent jobs and Mother looked after the child. After three years the wife lost her job through illness, the rent started to fall behind and then stopped, the husband threatened me with violence because I demanded that they pay the arrears. After eighteen months they moved out one night never to be seen again. To renovate the property to a living standard again and the rent arrears cost me £6,300, Would I rent it out again, No!! It is my holiday and weekend home.
Compulsory purchases are the answer
Aka – Theft
The council houses that were so important to house those in the lower income bracket are lost and won’t be replaced in this current economic climate. Terrible to sell them off with no plan to help those suffering
Ha ha ha – and one can see the effectiveness of the council’s “powers of enforcement” with a drive around Sandown High Street, for example.
Lots of luck with this policy.
IW Council are as much use as a split condom.
F*cking useless!
Hopefully this Council gets booted out, we need change.
The island use to be a tidy place, sadly not anymore.