Push for more empty homes to be handed to social landlords

Meanwhile, York Council is to make it harder for DSS hostel owners to snap up private houses and convert them into shared accommodation for people on benefits and low incomes, amid growing concern about the spread of the city's bedsitland.

According to council tax records, the number of private properties vacant is Scarborough is currently 1,869: higher than both the national and regional average.

More than 700 of them had been empty for longer than six months.

But only 100 of the empty homes are on the books of social landlords, and only a handful of these have been empty for more than six months.

Officials say homes are standing empty for complex reasons and it is not always clear why the owners have chosen not to live there or not to rent the property out.

The vast majority of empty properties – representing more than three per cent of all the houses in Scarborough, Whitby, and Filey – are in the hands of absent owners.

In the past, Scarborough Council has taken a number of measures to bring empty properties back into use, including legal action against owners who have left homes to rot, attracting vandals and anti-social behaviour.

Now the town hall wants to increase its targets with the help of a 100m Government war chest to tackle the problem of empty homes nationally.

Over the past five years, Scarborough Council has brought 84 empty homes back into use: 17 a year. But council bosses want to increase this to 25 a year.

Head of environmental health Andy Skelton has underlined that the old approach no longer makes financial sense given the current financial climate.

He said: "The council have traditionally used a mix of enforcement action on empty properties where a particular nuisance has been identified plus the use of various grants to owners and landlords, including registered social landlords, in order to bring empty properties back into use.

"This approach has met with some degree of success. However, the current public sector financial situation means that financial resources will become more limited and priority will need to be given to measures, which are more cost effective and less grant dependent."

He is proposing a more proactive approach over the next four years including an empty homes survey, and working with social landlords,

John Burroughs, housing strategy and development officer, added: "The council is already in the process of conducting the empty homes survey, targeted at those properties which have been empty for longer than 6 months.

"This will enable us to both establish the reasons why homes are being left empty and also undertake appropriate action to bring individual homes back into use."

As well as tapping into the national 100m drive to reduce empty homes, Scarborough could also benefit from cash incentives the Government is to offer to local authorities to fill vacant properties. The fewer empty homes there are in the Borough, the more money the council will be due under the new homes bonus scheme.

Meanwhile, York Councillors have voted to take the first steps down a legal road to stop the historic city becoming pepper potted with DSS hostels.

Measures agreed by members will make it harder for DSS landlords to convert private dwellings into house in multiple occupation by removing permitted development rights.

The council also want to work with universities on housing the city's huge student body.

It is feared that undergraduates who turn to the private sector for cheap digs are fuelling the market for hostel accommodation.