Do more to cut number of empty homes, says charity

Urgent action should be taken to prevent hundreds of homes from sitting empty for years, a housing charity said.

Across Stockport in Greater Manchester, 263 properties have been left empty over the past year, with 35 having not been occupied for more than a decade.

At least 8,000 people are on the borough's housing register, with some facing a 12-year wait for social housing.

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council encourages the owners of long-term empty homes to bring them back into use by charging higher rates of council tax.

Housing charity Shelter's head of policy Charlie Trew told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that homes left empty for years could fall into ruin, leaving huge repair bills to make them habitable again.

He suggested councils could offer to fund repairs as part of a deal which would see properties rented out as social housing.

Mr Trew said another solution could be for local authorities to use compulsory purchase orders to buy them.

He said derelict homes were "a huge blight on communities" and added: "It's a very visible sign of the failure to tackle the housing crisis."

The charity said this meant councils needed to do "absolutely everything they can" to bring long-term empty homes back into use and build more social homes.

Stockport Council's housing lead, Colin MacAlister, said real efforts had been made to reduce the number of empty homes in the borough.

"It's a difficult one," he explained. "We don't want to become Big Brother but equally we don't want people living next to empty houses.

"Stockport has a small number [of long-term empty homes] compared to other areas, but it's frustrating when we get a home that's not being maintained - that's normally when it comes to our attention."

Homeowners in Stockport are charged double the usual council tax rate if their property is unoccupied for more than 12 months.

After five and 10 years respectively, council tax is tripled and quadrupled.

This policy raised more than £600,000 last year.

Stockport Council estimates it will spend £1m on providing temporary accommodation this year - a huge increase on the £180,000 spent in 2022.