I too had this problem but our C/T section use IBS which is 'complex' oh to be an IT expert! I have an access empty property database which I use although it does need to be updated manually every quarter, this coincides with the void reports that I receive from C/T. It gives me the ability to report and run queries, so that I can for example ask it to produce a list of properties which have been empty prior to 1999 etc. Basically any information that you put in can be retrieved by running either a query or a report.

My tip is that if you are going to create the database yourself, and you don't have to be an expert, then start by writing a list of the information you want to be able to retrieve that way you will not have to back track becuase you forgotten something, this is harder than doing it from scratch. Not sure how to enclose a screen dump of ours to give you an idea but if you send me an email at sarma@braintree.gov.uk I can do it that way.

The first thing I did when I came into post (in 1996) was to set up an Access database. At first I put any empty property I could into it. I was getting lots of info from estate agents etc and (after lots of prodding) from council tax. I quickly found the disadvantages ot doing so though.

The first, and rather obvious issue when you come to think about it, is that the data on empty properties changes all the time. There really isn't any point in attempting to record transactional empties in your database for the pleasure of then taking them out again a couple of months later. So at the very least - if you are maintaining an independent database - you need to establish some criteria about what properties you want to record. The second issue is - what do you actually want your database for? Producing stats is very different from dealing with individual cases.

I'd suggest a two-pronged approach (can an approach be pronged?? I'm not clear about that).

In the first place, you should be able to get a dump out of your council tax system into an Excel file. We have one here that was originally written by Academy but has been improved (and corrected) by our internal IT people. We can run this whenever we want and we can feed in a parameter date so we can produce a list of all the empties on any particular date. Now this isn't a database as such because each time you do it you get a new snapshot. But it does have all sorts of useful info - when the property became empty, any exemption code, ward, address (and owner potentially but our council tax section won't release owner info except on unfurnished empties....)
In the second place by all means build an empty homes database for all the cases you are actually working on - the owners you contact or the particularly problematic empties you picked up from your council tax list that you want to make progress on. So this is an operational database.

These two things should do everything you want.

Setting up your database is fairly easy and I'm sure we could send you ours if you wanted (it's far from perfect). Brighton did a lot of work in this area too and I'm sure there are loads of databases hanging around cos just about every EPO wants to set one up.

Then you need to persuade your council tax people to dump out their data into an excel spreadsheet. I can't say how hard or easy that might be - not totally clear from what you have said. Maybe you have for something more sophisticaed like a database built into academy rather than just a snapshot dump. Anyway, we MIGHT be able to help there but I suggest you see where you get to first.

Good luck anyway!

David Gibbens
Housing Enabling Manager, Exeter City Council