Empty homes - Unlock the potential

What is an empty home?

An empty home is any privately owned residential property that has remained unoccupied and unfurnished for at least 6 months. It does not include holiday homes, second homes or properties which are empty due to the owner being in care.

How to report an empty home

If you know of a long term empty home, you can report it to us using our online portal:

Report an empty home

Some properties may appear empty, run down and in tired looking condition when in fact they are occupied.

Complaints about run down homes

If the property is so run down you feel it is not in keeping with the rest of the neighbouring properties and is having a detrimental effect on the local area. You can complete our online Planning Enforcement Complaint eform and it will be investigated by the relevant officer.

Finding an empty home

If you are interested in finding an empty home to buy or rent, either for your own use, to rent out or to develop and sell. You could search for a property by:

  • looking around the area that you want to buy
  • contacting local agents and auctioneers
  • putting a note through the door
  • making a land registry search to find out who the owners are (the information held may not be up to date)
  • checking planning applications for owner or agent details

As a council we contact empty home owners directly with the information provided to us on a monthly basis by the council tax team. The information provided by the council tax team cannot be shared with members of the public due to GDPR.

Owners of empty homes

Empty Homes Financial Assistance Scheme

To encourage owners of empty homes to bring their properties back into use we are offering the following financial assistance, either:

Empty homes grant of up to £5,000 per home

This is for properties that have been continuously empty for at least 24 months and require small amounts of work to bring them up to standard.

The grant can be used to carry out necessary repairs to meet decent homes standards.

Decent Homes Standards

A decent home is one which is wind and weather tight, warm and has modern facilities. In particular a decent home must:

  • meet the current statutory minimum standard for housing;
  • be in a reasonable state of repair;
  • have reasonable modern facilities; and provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort
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The grant is secured against the property and an administration fee of 10% of the value of the grant is charged.

The grant is only repayable if the property is sold within the nomination period (1 to 5 years).

Empty homes loan to let – up to £10,000 per home

Properties must have been continuously empty for at least 24 months to qualify for this loan which helps to meet the financial shortfall of returning a property to a lettable condition. As a minimum the works must bring the property to a decent homes standard.

The loan is repayable monthly and is secured against the property. An administration fee of 10% of the loan value is charged. The property cannot be sold for the duration of the loan unless written permission has been obtained from Arun District Council.

Empty homes loan to sell – up to £20,000 per home

Properties must have been continuously empty for at least 24 months to qualify for this loan which helps to meet the financial shortfall of returning a property to a sellable condition. As a minimum the works must bring the property to a decent homes standard and be readily available to actively market for immediate occupation on completion.

The loan is secured against the property and must be repaid within 12 months of the certified completion date or immediately upon sale of the property. An administration fee of 10% of the loan value is charged.

Further information and how to apply

Further information can be found in our empty homes financial assistance information guide.

To apply for either of these loans please complete our AR Empty Homes Application Pack [pdf] 291K.

Enforcement Action

If an owner of a long-term empty property declines assistance or fails to respond, we can use various powers including the serving of statutory notices which require works to be carried out.

In extreme cases we can use Enforced Sale procedures and Compulsory Purchase Orders to bring properties back into use.

Further information

Find a trades person

Find a business that has been vetted and approved by Trading Standards in your area.

Council Tax discounts

Some empty properties are entitled to a Council Tax discount. For more information see Council Tax discounts.

However, properties that have been empty and unfurnished for 2 years or more will be charged a premium.

Additional Council Tax charges on empty properties

Any property which is empty and unfurnished for 2 years or longer will attract a premium charge, which is a percentage of the full Council Tax rate for the band (rates as of 1 April 2022):

 
Time empty Percentage
Up to 2 years 0%
2 and 5 years 100%
5 and 10 years 200%
Over 10 years 300%

Council Tax and properties in disrepair or derelict

Even if you think your property is uninhabitable while you make repairs or replace the kitchen or bathroom, you will still have to pay Council Tax.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is responsible for deciding which properties should be deleted from the Council Tax list.

If you wish to apply to the VOA to have your property deleted from the Council Tax list you should firstly read the VOA guidance notes: domestic properties which are in disrepair or are derelict.

You can contact the VOA using their online form

or email: ctonline@voa.gov.uk

or phone: 03000 501 501

Letting your empty property

You may wish to consider letting your empty property. You can find lots of useful information through the government's renting out a property web page.

If you are thinking about acting as landlord yourself, we provide the following landlord services:

  • our housing advice service runs a landlord scheme which helps landlords find tenants and gives advice and support on managing a tenancy. For more information email: housing.options@arun.gov.uk
  • we also hold landlord forums twice a year at the Civic Centre in Littlehampton. For more information please view our landlords' forums web page.

Selling your empty property

If you wish to sell your empty property you have 3 options:

  1. To sign up with an estate agent
  2. To sell it privately
  3. To sell it at an auction

The Citizens Advice and Home Owners Alliance provide lots of useful information on selling a home and how to sell your house at auction.

 

An empty property where the owner or tenant has died

If you are the executor or administrator of an empty property you can find information and guidance through the government's dealing with the estate of someone who's died guide.

When a property is empty because the owner has died and probate (the legal process for handling their estate) hasn’t been granted, it falls under "class F". The empty homes officer will still work on these properties.

Often, these empty homes can make the neighbourhood look bad since they aren’t being taken care of. This lack of maintenance can also affect nearby homes.

The officer will mainly focus on these properties if they’ve been empty for more than two years, unless someone complains about them. This two-year period allows the executor (the person managing the deceased's estate) enough time to take care of things.

Class F properties don’t pay Council Tax until probate is granted and at least six months have passed. However, the council can't let these properties stay Council Tax exempt for too long. We want to work with the estate to help get these homes back in use in line with our Empty Homes Strategy.

Even though there are specific legal steps for dealing with properties of deceased owners, the empty homes officer can still take action if communication doesn't lead to a solution.

Our empty homes strategy

Find out from our Empty Homes Strategy 2023 to 2028 what we have already achieved and how we are continuing to address the problem of long-term empty homes in our district.