FOI request (FOIR-512559797)

Vacant houses

Requested Wed 03 May 2023
Responded Thu 15 June 2023

I would like to request the following data under the Freedom of Information Act.

1. As of 3rd May 2023 (or the most recently available date), please could you tell me how many private and council homes have been vacant in your authority for the following numbers of financial years*:

a. Less than one year (that is, the current financial year)

b. One year

c. Two years

d. Three years

e. Four years

f. Five years

g. Six years

h. Seven years

i. Eight years

j. Nine years

k. Ten years

l. 11 - 19 years

m. 20 or more years

*Please treat 'years' as financial years. If a home has been listed as empty within the current financial year, I would expect this to be listed as 'less than one year'.

Please could you break this information down by:

Column (a) The 'number of years'

Column (b) 'Private' or 'Council' home - a separate count for private, and council, if available

Column (c) The number of vacant homes

2. For the financial years 2016/2017 to 2021/2022 (and any data available for 2022/2023), how much money has your council raised from charging extra council tax on homes that have been vacant for two or more years?

Please could you break this information down by:

Column (a) The year

Column (b) The amount raised via council tax paid on vacant dwellings

If time or cost restraints are an issue with this request, please can you prioritise the question 1 over question 2.

The preferred format of your response is machine-readable Microsoft Excel, or Google Sheets.

Response

1. Please see below:

a. Less than one year - Private 115, Council 9, Total 124

b. One year - Private 643, Council 126, Total 769

c. Two years - Private 235, Council 20, Total 255

d. Three years - Private 59, Council 12, Total 71

e. Four years - Private 38, Council 9, Total 47

f. Five years - Private 37, Council 2, Total 39

g. Six years - Private 12, Council 11, Total 23

h. Seven years - Private 19, Council 5, Total 24

i. Eight years - Private 8, Council 0, Total 8

j. Nine years - Private 1, Council 0, Total 1

k. Ten years - Private 2, Council 0, Total 2

l. 11 - 19 years- Private 9, Council 0, Total 9

m. 20 or more years - Private 5, Council 0, Total 5

2. Information not held