HOUSING
Reopen doors to
empty homes
London’s housing crisis
is deepening all the
time. Yet there are some
homes sitting empty and
unused. Ealing Council
is doing all it can to
get these properties
back into use, reports
Quinton Drawbridge.
I
n our borough alone, there are
more than 2,500 families in
temporary accommodation and
almost 9,000 households waiting
for a council home.
With so many families in need of a
roof over their heads, the council last
year doubled the cost of council tax for
privately-owned properties which had
been left empty for two years or more
– to encourage landlords to get these
homes back into use.
The council also started to offer
landlords a hassle-free ‘direct let’ scheme
to help pair them with tenants looking
for a home. Not only is this scheme free,
the council also offers landlords a one-off
cash incentive equivalent to 16 weeks’
rent in advance, as well as an inspection
of the property to help make sure it
meets all current rules and regulations.
The measures appear to have
been working.
Overall, the total number of empty
properties in the borough has dropped
from 3,057 to 1,188 since the council
tax premium was introduced.
And the number of homes left empty
for two years or more dropped from
346 to 294, bringing good homes back
into proper use.
Following this success, the council
is now considering whether to raise
council tax to three times the normal
rate – for owners of homes that have
sat empty for more than five years.
An increasing number of landlords are
signing up for the direct lets scheme, too
– providing homes for families that are
in-work, reliable and just in need of good
quality, affordable accommodation.
Meanwhile, Ealing Council is taking
further hands-on measures to tackle
the housing shortage by pledging to
build 2,500 more genuinely affordable
homes, all of which will be let by the
council or housing associations. The
council is leading the way on this issue
– no other local authority in the capital
is building more affordable homes
than in Ealing.
INTERESTED IN DIRECT LETS?
Find out more about the direct
lets scheme, and how an Acton
landlord benefited from it, at
ealingnewsextra.co.uk/features/
landlords-why-not-let-council-
help or get in touch with the
direct lets team on 020 8825 8765
or [email protected]
around ealing February/March 2020
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