At its last meeting the Panel requested an introduction to the work of the Empty Homes Officer. Melanie Mutch, Empty Homes Officer, will present a report on her area of work. The Panel is asked to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet arising from the report.

Ian Wright, Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety, presented a Panel-requested report on Empty Homes.

For Council Tax purposes, an empty home was defined as one which was unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for a period of over six months.  Empty homes in Oxford were problematic, given the pressures on housing and land in the city. Currently, 262 properties had been empty for between six months and two years, and 114 for over two years, nine of which had been empty for over 10 years. Properties awaiting probate did not contribute to these figures, which stood at 184, and similarly the 54 properties being renovated. Nationally, there had been a significant rise in the number of empty homes; Oxford’s figures were currently on an upward trajectory also. Although the rise was disappointing in light of the stresses on housing stock, a 2018 report commissioned suggested that Oxford tended to perform strongly against the national average, ranking 29^th out of 326 councils nationally.

The Council had an Empty Homes Officer, responsible for collating information about empty homes in the City, and working with internal and external bodies to try and bring them back into use, as well as managing any nuisance arising from the empty homes. Owners were incentivised to bring homes back into use through a loan scheme, though uptake on this was fairly low. Increased Council Tax on empty properties was also an incentive.

Legislation around long term empty homes was not well-crafted, meaning legal responses to tackling empty homes such as Empty Homes Management Orders were not often relied upon nationally or locally. Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) were neither cheap nor easy; owing to this the Council no longer had a budget to pursue CPOs.

Discussion was held by the Panel over the degree to which the Council’s premium on Council Tax incentivised the bringing of empty homes back into use, and whether higher premiums might be more effective. In response, it was explained that for homes empty for a shorter duration the increased council tax did prove to be an incentive. However, for those paying the top tier of premium, empty for ten years or more, it was not an effective deterrent. It was not possible, however, to raise this premium further as the Council was already charging the legal maximum. The similarity and cross-over between second and empty homes was discussed, with the current treatment favouring second homes on the basis that they could not be charged any premium. It was not known by officers present whether a premium could be charged for second homes, and a request was made by the Panel that this be clarified for the next meeting.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Supply, joined the meeting at this point.

Other issues explored by the Panel included options for houses purchased through CPOs, and whether there were ways to reduce reliance on a dedicated budget. However, the point remained that owners of CPO’d properties would get market value of the home, including any development potential, meaning little opportunity to make significant profit through redevelopment existed.

With empty homes being brought back into use contributing to the figures used for working out the New Homes Bonus, the Panel sought more information on whether a replacement scheme was likely to be put in place by central government after 2022. Councillor Hollinsworth explained that it was unclear; central government was prone to making announcements with little notice or guidance, though there was considerable back bench pressure from Conservatives to establish some form of replacement. The Panel requested a breakdown of the number of empty homes contributing to the New Homes Bonus figures to be provided.

Addendum to the minutes.

Further to the requests for more information made by the Panel, the following information was received:

1)    It was confirmed by the Council Tax team that it was not legal to apply a Council Tax premium to second homes. It is legal to give discounts, but the Council does not do this.

2)    Concerning empty homes and their contribution to the New Homes Bonus, the following was received:

Empty Homes figures for New Homes Bonus calculation from 2011-22.

The table below details Empty Homes brought back into use for the purposes of the New Homes Bonus. The figures quoted are for Empty Properties brought back into use over and above any additional Empty Properties recorded throughout the year.