Issue - meetings

The Head of Internal Audit submitted a report into the Council’s management of empty homes, which had been requested by the Audit Committee as part of its 2019/20 work programme.

The Head of Internal Audit introduced the report by drawing the Committee’s attention to key findings, which were summarised in paragraph 3.6 of the report and set out in full in Appendix One. The Director of Housing gave an overview of the Council’s actions and strategies to tackle empty homes. The Chair, with the Committee’s consent, agreed that issues that would be discussed in a wider report to the Adults' Health, Adults' Care and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee scheduled for 28^th January 2020 and would not be debated at this meeting to avoid duplication.

Members asked a series of questions that are summarised below, to which the Director of Housing along with the Housing Strategy & Development Manager responded at the meeting.

·        Would Officers consider using “a stick” as well as “a carrot” to encourage landlords to let more vacant homes?  Officers were investigating use of S.215 of the Town and Country Planning Act as well as working closely with colleagues in Planning Enforcement.

·        Were there sufficient resources available to this work? Officers confirmed that they were setting out the cost benefit analysis to show the full range of benefits to the Borough in bringing empty homes back into use.

·        Would the Council consider wider use of Compulsory Purchase Orders along with using its wholly owned Swindon Housing Company to put empty homes back into service? Given the time necessary and costs involved, Officers stated that this option was part of the cost benefit analysis.

·        Was there an understanding of why landlords were foregoing income by leaving properties empty?  Officers found that there was a range of reasons with the most significant being cases where the owner was now in a long-term care facility. For other cases, Officers set out the offers made to take over and manage properties.

·        How achievable is the 50 homes a year target? Officers believed this was realistic based on prior experience.

The Chair thanked both the officers who had undertaken the audit as well as those from the service area who had attended to respond to the Committee’s questions.

Resolved – (1) That the report be noted

(2) That the Head of Internal Audit brings an update report back to this Committee in 12 months’ time.