Our top news story

The Empty Homes Network: National Virtual Conference 2022 - Booking Now Open!

Story submitted by EHNAdmin on

The Empty Homes Network is delighted to announce this year's annual national conference, will be held on Thursday 19th May 2022. As with our 2021 event, we will again be hosting this virtually, and are pleased to be working in partnership with CrowdComms to deliver a bigger, better and more interactive day for our delegates.

As always, the event will be a full of informative presentations, provides enhanced networking opportunities with colleagues old and new, giving you the ability to share ideas, innovations and best practice, and to interact with our sponsors via dedicated pages and online chat, video and meeting functions.

Council Taxbase 2021: Empty Homes Statistics Released

Story submitted by EHNAdmin on

This year's Council Taxbase and empty homes statistics have been released by Central Government, providing the only source of statistical data into the number of empty homes nationwide.

Compiled annually and released on the 10th November, this year's data, including figures on Empty Homes, Long Term Empty Homes, properties being charged any form of Premium, along with second homes, can be found by here.

Once on the .gov website, the full data can be found under the 'Council Taxbase' link at the bottom of the page.

Local Authority data can then be found using either the CTB Form Tab within the document, or by looking at the alphabetical list under the 'Data' tab.

As part of the statistical research being carried out by the Empty Homes Network, further analysis on the statistics, and what is happening at local level, will be available in early 2022, and published on our website.

Introducing Estate Research to the Empty Homes Network

Story submitted by EHNAdmin on

Estate Research are a firm of genealogists established in 2001 who have built a reputation assisting the public sector. We have a head office in Wigan and an office in London, employing over 50 staff with both local and international reach. Our company has evolved significantly over the years, meaning we provide a huge range of services, including empty property solutions. 

With the number of empty properties continuously on the rise, coupled with the current housing crisis, we understand that solving this issue has quickly become a priority for local authorities across the county. In 2020 alone, the number of long-term empty properties rose to 268,3850, which is a 19% increase compared to 2019. It’s clear that it is now more important than ever to bring as many of these properties back into use as soon as possible, and Estate Research have a proven track record of assisting local authorities do exactly that. 

We offer simple solutions in a number of scenarios, including: 

EHN Statistics Research 2021: Last chance for submissions

Story submitted by EHNAdmin on

Empty homes officers across the country are being encouraged to submit their statistics and resources surveys by the end of the day on the 6th November 2021, as the deadline for submissions draws closer. With the aim of providing comparisons to the national statistics collated through the Council Taxbase, and due for release on the 10th November, this study intends to provide corporate support to officers who have experienced rising numbers of empty homes, but also to highlight the numbers of empty homes brought back into use through determination and hard work throughout a challenging year.

The survey, along with the aims and objectives of the research are outlined below:

Based on the statistics held within Empty Homes Officer databases, the research aims to: 

- break down locally held information and statistics into categories and descriptions of their ownership types, and reasons for becoming and/or remaining empty such as pre/post probate

OTHER STORIES

First EHN Virtual Conference Proves Successful

Story submitted by EHNAdmin on

The first ever EHN Virtual Empty Homes Conference, held on the 27th May, proved to be a great success, with over 250 delegate attending on the day, and some fantastic sessions presented by a selection of industry experts.

Held virtually for the first time in partnership with our provider Hirespace, this year's Conference brought the usual interesting and informative sessions to our biggest audience to date. 

Enforced sales could help empty homes crisis

Story submitted by Suzanne Ellison on

This is Premium content. You'll need to logged in to view it. Access is only available to our Full Members and Subscribers.

NB:The system can't recognise whether you have the necessary access rights unless you are logged in

If you don't have an account, or don't have sufficient access rights to view the content, please refer to the About Membership page in the About menu

Repurposing Vacant Sheltered Accommodation for Fire Safety Trials

Story submitted by EHNAdmin on

With figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government showing that the number of long term vacant properties across England has risen to more than 216,000, we’re looking at the highest levels of homes standing empty (for more than six months) since 2012. Economically, this accounts for around £53.6bn of property in England alone, according to an analysis carried out by modular home and school builder Project Etopia.

Orbis Protect joins forces with E.ON to bring private homes back into use

Story submitted by EHNAdmin on

Leading property protection provider Orbis Protect has joined forces with E.ON, one of the UK's top energy suppliers, to support its drive to tackle the UK’s housing shortage by bringing empty homes back into use.

Orbis Protect is partnering with E.ON on the scheme and will provide specialist clearance and cleaning of any empty properties, externally and internally.

See all our stories