I’ve just had a look at my last blog and was shocked to see it was dated February.  A lot has happened in my working life since then.

Other than moving offices, changing groups (‘Housing’ is back together again, where it was previously with environmental health), new manager and a new principal to start soon…. There’s also been the increases in council tax on empty homes and the subsequent phone calls that are coming in. 

My council tax colleagues have been receiving calls from empty home owners whose homes have been empty for more than 2 years and some of these owners are not happy with the new premium.  However the ‘upside’ of this is that some callers then want to discuss with me what the options are for bringing their empty home back into use.  One advantage of the premium that I can see so far as an empty homes officer is that the larger bills are accelerating owners’ decisions on how to bring their homes back into use.  This is good. 

I’ve also decided to be more ‘proactive’ with owners, as I feel we need to offer them different ways of bringing their property back into use.  With the new increases in council tax, the timing seems appropriate.  So whenever someone is interested in buying an empty home in a particular village or area,  I contact the empty home owners I have in that village/area.  I usually ask the potential buyer to give me some reasons why they have chosen to live in that particular area, and to tell me a little bit about themselves.  They also tell me how many bedrooms they need, what their budget is etc.  This helps to make my letter to owners a bit more personal and hopefully catch their attention.

I’ve just started on my new approach and already I’ve had replies from 3 of the 10 owners in the area my potential buyer was interested in.  I now know that one of the three will become occupied from 30thApril, one has been a second home since last May(!) and the third one may be interested in selling to this lady.  It’s early days yet, but it’s very encouraging to get such a positive response.  Timing is everything they say!  

And I forgot to mention that a new computerised phone system was introduced to our group just before we moved offices, which made things more interesting....

Lynne Campbell, Empty Homes Officer, South Lakeland District Council 

Things are moving on from my January blog.

I’ve now sent out around 275 letters so far this month to my empty home owners in council tax bands A, B and C.  I’ve been letting them know of the impending council tax increases on their empty homes (the ‘stick’) and also the sources of funding available to them (the ‘carrot’).

Interestingly I have had only 40 phone call replies so far, none in writing.  I’m pleased to say that none have been aggressive or abusive, although I’ve had a few who declared themselves ‘outraged’.  When I explain that I have written to them as a courtesy, ahead of the April council tax bills, even the ‘outraged’ ones back down and thank me for letting them know about the changes. 

I’ve even had a few owners who were actually grateful for the ‘heads-up’ because they still have several months to rent out or occupy their empty properties before the increased bills land on their doormats.  It’s all about timing and price!

The good news is that I have had quite a few owners interested in our empty homes management schemes, and one joined our Matchmaker Scheme, so there have been some good ‘spin-offs’ from my mailshot.  It’s also getting some really long-term empty home owners to finally realise they need to decide what to do with their empty property.

It’s a very interesting time for those of us doing empty homes work.  I think the increases in council tax will, in the main, help owners to remove themselves from ‘empty/unfurnished’ category to another (for example Class A uninhabitable, Second Home or Occupied).  So it should actually help decrease the amount of empty/unfurnished homes at the time of the calculations for the next New Homes Bonus…. which I’m very happy about.

Let me know how you’re getting on at your council with the impending council tax changes, and how you think they’re going to affect your empty homes work?

Lynne Campbell, Empty Homes Officer, South Lakeland District Council 

Another new year and the media profile of empty homes just keeps getting better and better (with a ‘nod’ to George Clarke).  All we need now is for us to be given the same statutory duties which environmental health officers have…..

I’m back at work and feel very positive, compared to this time last year.  Finally our council tax for empty homes is going to be 100% from April 2013.  No more 50% ‘reward’ for keeping a home empty.

Best of all, we will be adding the premium for homes empty more than 2 years.  I feel it’s going to give me a very useful ‘tool’ to contact owners with homes empty 6 months to a year to encourage them to do something before the 2 years and the premium ‘kick in’. 

Yes I know some owners will chuck in some furniture and claim it’s a second home (100% bill).  And I know the really crafty ones will claim it’s a single occupant (75% bill).  But at least I know to look out for these ones.  It’ll mean more visits from me to confirm suspicions. 

I’m in the process of writing to all empty home owners this month whose council tax bands are A, B or C.  I’m making them aware of the council tax changes for empty homes from April 2013, then setting out the sources of funding available and other ways to re-use their empty home.  I already know I’ll be getting quite a few aggressive phone calls, but for every rude caller, I hope to get others who finally decide to take action.  If anyone would like a copy of my letter to tailor to their own needs, I can put in on the EHN website for members to access.

As always, there will be pros and cons to this new legislation – hopefully more pros than cons!  Only time will tell…

Lynne Campbell, Empty Homes Officer, South Lakeland District Council 

I can’t believe I haven’t updated my blog since 18thOctober, where did the time go?  That’s an easy one to answer – I’ve been busy setting up the different schemes for the 3 different sources of funding which we can now offer our empty home owners in South Lakeland, helping write a cabinet report for enforced sales and CPO powers, attending the Empty Homes (Agency) Conference in London last Monday etc etc…! 

I enjoyed myself at the conference.  I find it fires up my passion for why I enjoy doing empty homes work so much.  There was a very interesting discussion between George Clarke (Empty Homes Adviser to the Government) and Don Foster MP, our new DCLG Minister.  Good to know George Clarke isn’t afraid to ask such direct questions of government ministers on various empty homes issues.  It was a passionate debate.  Also encouraging to hear a minister who seems very enthusiastic and positive about our empty homes work.   

I found the VAT workshop useful too – the speaker spoke in terms I could understand - and I didn’t know that an owner only has 12 months from reoccupying following repairs to claim the reduced-rate of VAT – the moment it is reoccupied, the ‘VAT’ clock is ticking down the 12 months. Good to know this.  

The last 2 speakers of the day, usually the ‘graveyard’ slots, were extremely inspiring – I found Derek Latham’s presentation on creative renewal of empty buildings fascinating, and Dan Thompson of Empty Shops Network made a very speedy and punchy argument on why we should not try to turn all empty retail units into housing.  

I’m already looking forward to our own EHN conference next year.  I always learn extremely practical and useful stuff which I can take away and use in my job.  In fact I think we’re very lucky to have the 2 conferences which are very different, but each inspiring to us empty homes officers in different ways. It helps give me new ideas  to help my empty home owners bring their properties back into use.

Lynne Campbell, Empty Homes Officer, South Lakeland District Council 

The long break from my last blog is simply because there have been so many exciting things going on at my work (and a few holidays taken too!).  And, as the one and only Empty Homes Officer at our council, I’ve been getting very involved in helping get schemes set up, contacting and following up interest shown by empty home owners.

From having nothing to offer empty home owners in the way of financial help, we now have quite a few options which are all happening this year.  A sort of ‘feast to famine’ but in reverse!  The great thing is, they are a mix of loan and grants, each suitable for a different type of property and owner.   

Two are joint management schemes.  One is with a local housing association who we worked with so well on our Final EDMO last year.  However this is even better because it is voluntary on the owner’s behalf, as opposed to the enforcement, and it’s for a 5-year affordable rent, instead of the EDMO 7-years. 

Our other management scheme is through the HCA community groups empty homes funding. Fylde YMCA will be managing our empty homes through this HCA grant funding.

Personally I believe a management scheme offers a good deal to empty home owners.  The owners do not have to be a landlord nor do they have to project manage repairs. They receive rental income throughout the 5 years and at the end of that period they get back a well-repaired property which they can choose to sell or continue renting.  And because our housing association maintains and manages our council housing stock, this makes them ideally placed to run our joint management scheme.   

I believe this will be quite an attractive option to our empty home owners.  For us, it provides more affordable housing for this area where it is in great demand, and it represents another way to reoccupy an empty home.  It’s also a positive example of ‘partnership’ working.

The loans we will be offering will be the government’s new National Empty Homes Loans Scheme.  We are lucky we have been chosen as one of the pilots for this scheme.  Loans could help owners in several ways.  Those who cannot manage to fund repairs will be able to complete repairs with the loan (average £10k) and let the property at an affordable rent for 5 years. The rent helps repay the loan.  As with the management scheme, after the 5 years the owner can then choose to sell or continue renting.  Recyclable loans represent another way to reoccupy our empty homes.

So I’ve now got lots of work to keep me busy, lots of positive options to offer my empty home owners, lots of reoccupied empty homes and hopefully lots of good press stories in future.  Win-win-win! 

Lynne Campbell, Empty Homes Officer, South Lakeland District Council

I am going to dispense with too many convoluted sentences or opinion and get straight to the point. This is really a question of maths.

The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have announced a major housing and planning package that will help deliver:

“Up to 15,000 affordable homes and bring 5,000 empty homes back into use using new capital funding of £300m and the infrastructure guarantee”

I am interested in the 5,000 empty homes element of this.

Taking a step back, the charity Empty Homes, through much supportive campaigning of Mr George Clark, now has an amount of £3million from government to administer a loans fund.

Purely on that £3million, with an average loan of £10,000 per empty property, we’d be looking at 300 empties brought back into use.

Plus, there is the advantage of the repayments of those loans being invested in running the loan scheme, and being recycled to provide loans on an ongoing basis.

Using the same (very simplistic) maths model, to bring back 5,000 empty homes into use, £50million pounds of the £300million would be required.

Now, the initial target of bringing back into use 5,000 empty homes appears not particularly ambitious, when considering the national figure of over 700,000 empties.

However, if the £50million funding is administered through a recyclable method, ie the National Empty Homes Loan fund way, this reinvestment surely has the potential for increasing year-on-year the money available to invest.

While it remains far too little an amount to significantly reduce the 700,000, it surely would have the potential to achieve far greater numbers of empty homes being brought back into use than the 5,000 target released.

There is no denying that when I read a good case study about a project that brought one or a number of properties back into use, through positive partnership work and quite often sheer bloody-mindedness, it warms the heart that a community has contributed to and benefited from this.

The stories are often charted through the traditional ‘before and after’ images of the property, interspersed with those of the involved partners in various poses and states of dustiness as they strip way the old and fit the new. The group shot at the end signifies a job well done and the tired but smiling people stand there, faces full of pride. Much deserved.

These stories are important and long may they continue. Yet, I can’t help but think that the range of case studies on offer should be wider. Not only this, but that there is a gaping hole that would take tons of cavity wall insulation to fill!

Long-Term Empty Property: focus on the owners and the funding

I think empty homes case studies need to take a different approach, or at least incorporate the most important dimension; the actual owners of an empty property. It is through developing case studies around the owners that will resonate most with other owners when it comes to making locally funded projects successful.

For any local government officer or local social enterprise working to bring back empty homes into use, convincing the owner of said property that it is a good idea and ‘X’ type of funding is available to assist, can be an absolute nightmare; and I don’t necessarily blame the owner for not engaging, as being the owner of a long-term empty property is not always a straightforward position to be in.

From what I have seen or, more to the point what I have not seen, is a focus away from the journey of the building. What I would really like to see, what I think would be really beneficial, is the story of how and why the owner of a long-term empty property, decided to engage with a particular project.

If it was a low interest loan or lease management product they signed up to, who was it with, how much did it cost, why did they choose that particular option? Did they work with a social enterprise or the local authority? How much work did they do themselves: was it shared, or all done via a local apprenticeship project? What was their motivation for engaging in the first place? Was the commitment required from them long or short term? What reward did they ultimately get from it: Financial? Social? Community? Did they have doubts? On reflection, was it worth the effort? (Or were they able to just hand over the whole project, from which they have now reaped the benefits??) And the key question: Would they recommend other owners of empty homes do the same???

I believe it is the human case study that sells the opportunity, not the one about the bricks and mortar; the bricks and mortar are only a reflection of the people, partners and a community, who chose to do something about a particular issue.

Develop the case study around those owners of empty homes who have engaged with projects and I believe you will see more come forward and be prepared to take up the opportunity to develop their property.

I would love know peoples thoughts on this, more so, if there were case studies in existence that could be shared!

Yesterday was the first ‘distribution’ day for the Summer issue of our local authority newspaper, South Lakeland News.  This time it included an article on the ‘reduced-rate’ of VAT on building works for properties empty over 2 years.

Originally we were going to send out letters to owners with homes empty over 2 years to make them aware of this potential saving.   Then we realised there were over 500 of these!   With a quick sum to work out the postage alone, it made much more sense (and would cost a lot less!) to draw owners’ attention to the VAT reduction by including an article in our council paper.

And I’m pleased to say that I’ve already had 6 phone calls from a variety of empty home owners asking for a letter confirming how long the property has been continuously empty.  Quite a few of these owners had bought their empty property following the death of a previous owner.  But the best one so far was a derelict empty which had disappeared from council tax records years ago – the furthest back we could trace it was to 1998, although the owner reckoned it’d been empty over 20 years!  So either they had finally decided to renovate it anyway, or the prospect of ‘saving’ 15% on the VAT on the repairs was the ‘push’ they needed to renovate.  When I’ve been talking to owners, I’ve been saying that although this reduced-rate of VAT is an option at the moment from HMRC, things can always change and it would be a shame to miss out on this saving…  

A few things I have learned from questions I’ve put to HMRC so far….

• Building labour can also be reduce-rated for VAT, not just the building materials.

• If someone has recently renovated but was unaware of the reduced-rate of VAT at the time (and feels they have ‘missed the boat’), it is possible to ‘backdate’ this, but at the discretion of your supplier/contractor.  If your supplier/contractor was willing, they could raise a credit note for the original invoice, then re-invoice at the reduced-rate of VAT.  Whether they would be prepared to do this or not is another thing…as presumably they’d also have to pay the owner back the 15% difference in VAT! !

If you decide to ‘advertise’ this potential saving to your empty home owners, I would be happy to include our article on the Empty Homes Network for you to tailor to your needs.

Lynne Campbell, Empty Homes Officer, South Lakeland District Council  

This past couple of months I’ve been thinking about what positive FREE bits of advice I could give to really help my empty home owners, especially since funding is dwindling away….   And I think the major one is still the reduced-rate of VAT or ‘tax incentive’ as I like to call it!   

My own feeling is that there are still lots of owners out there who don’t yet know that they could be paying only 5% VAT on their repairs instead of 20%, provided their home has been continuously empty for over 2 years.  I think the 15% is a huge saving.  If my mental maths is right, that could amount, at a rough calculation, to a saving of £1,500 on a £10,000 bill.  And many empty home owners end up paying over £10,000 on their repairs.  This could mean they start their repairs sooner and reoccupy quicker…. Result  =  More New Homes Bonus?!

At one stage when we were receiving quite a few requests each week for these ‘VAT’ letters, we looked into charging a fee per letter.  We decided against it after considering the pros and cons, and instead we’re going to advertise the incentive through our council newspaper.  This will cost less than the postage from writing to owners individually and hopefully also catch the eye of those on the A1 Uninhabitable exemption.  That might prevent those A1 empties from ever becoming a long-term empty….(OK, no NHB gain, but can’t win every time).   It’s also a positive approach. 

 However an advantage of writing to our empty home owners could be that when their homes ultimately become reoccupied, we can claim an ‘intervention’.  (We still don’t know how our empty homes work is going to be audited in future…). 

Other councils are deciding to charge around £50 per letter, money to be paid in advance of the letter.  The argument there is that if owners can afford to pay thousands in repairs anyway, a small extra cost of £50 for a letter is a drop in the water…..

What do you think?

Lynne Campbell, Empty Homes Officer, South Lakeland District Council 

29 May 2012

I thought I’d write about my 2 days in the big city of Birmingham this week.  Despite the fact that I live in the countryside, I also love being in a city.   I travelled down on Monday night for the annual Empty Homes Network conference on Tuesday.  Never been to Birmingham before and enjoyed the walk from Travelodge to “etc venues”/Maple House on Corporation Street.  As I was walking and making good time on that warm sunny morning, I stopped en route to have a quick look in Birmingham Cathedral. It was very peaceful – nice stained glass too.  

Fantastic day at the conference, very good attendance (over 100 I would guess?), light airy rooms, very interesting speakers, great food and regular refreshments.  Good tight timing for each workshop session, lots of variety – not too long to get bored with a session but on the contrary often leaving you wanting to know more and ask more questions…..  Matthew Smith from Birmingham City Council was on home turf and was last-minute chair for the day.  Highly entertaining and a great ad-libber, Matt also ran a tight ship timing-wise 

Two politicians gave their party view of empty homes – Andrew Stunell gave the Liberal Democrats point of view that unlike previous parties they have actually offered positive incentives for re-using our empty homes (HCA funding, New Homes Bonus).  On the other side of the political divide was Chris Williams for Labour.  He was honest enough to admit his party had been previously lacking in empty homes incentives, but would now take back our comments to the Shadow Minister, Jack Dromey, for the housing policy they are formulating.  

Highlight sessions for myself were the Empty Homes Solutions session (very interesting); Grafton’s Tracing & Genealogy workshop (very useful tips) and Andrew Lavender’s Good Service of Notice  (‘cover-all-bases’ with serving your notices…!)  David Gibbens also brought us up to date with proposed EDMO changes.  Most entertaining presentation award for the day goes to Dave Stott who, together with Graftons, are now offering a service that will tackle any Enforced Sale – no problem too great - at no cost (or recoverable cost).  Glyn Berrisford from Stoke answered our questions on council tax – personally I’ll be following up on at least one point  – I’m going to speak to our council tax visiting officer and arrange to go out for a day with them to see what they do and also to let them know what I do in my empty homes work.  I often feel I work partly for council tax anyway….  

A very useful, informative and highly enjoyable day’s conference, even though I didn’t manage to attend every session.  Loved catching up with other empty homes colleagues too, already looking forward to next year’s conference….   Lynne Campbell, Empty Homes Officer, South Lakeland District Council in the Lake District