Kent empty property officers share good practice

On Monday 29th January No Use Empty; the East Kent Empty Property Initiative hosted the third in a series of training workshops for empty property officers from across Kent at the Shepway District Council Chamber in Folkestone. The aim of…

On Monday 29th January No Use Empty; the East Kent Empty Property Initiative hosted the third in a series of training workshops for empty property officers from across Kent at the Shepway District Council Chamber in Folkestone. The aim of the training is to improve their knowledge and understanding of legislation, which will help bring more empty properties back into use.

Over 43 delegates, representing all Kent’s district councils attended the seminar as well as representatives from various other departments including legal, planning, building control, council tax and environmental health.

The morning session focused on the use of the enforced sales procedure which is used by councils as a last resort should an empty property fall into a serious state of disrepair. Dilapidated empty properties often become a serious eyesore and a target for squatters and vandalism.   By using the enforced sales procedure owners can be forced to sell their property to encourage new ownership which will renovate and bring these empty properties back into use.

The afternoon session focused on the use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs). EDMO’s allow councils to take control of certain empty dwellings in cases where it is clear that the owner is not likely to bring the dwelling back into use.  This is yet another tool used by empty property officers to deal with properties that have fallen into such a bad state of disrepair that  they are  a cause of concern to neighbours and a wasted housing resource.

Susan Pledger, Project Manager of No Use Empty said; “Authorities have a wide range of powers to encourage owners to bring their long term empty properties back into use. While every effort is made to work with owners, we recognise that in some cases, a council will need to use its enforcement powers, if we are to counter the negative impact empty properties have on communities in East Kent.  EDMO’s and the enforced sales procedure are only ever used as a last resort, if all other courses of action have failed and the owner is not constructively engaging with the council.”

The training was led by Andrew Lavender, Principal Consultant for Professional Partnership Services (PPS ltd), a consultancy working in partnership with the No Use Empty campaign.

Free help and advice is available to property owners who are advised to browse this website or call the No Use Empty hotline 08458 247605.