Council urges 1,300 empty homeowners to seek advice
Shropshire Council is offering advice and support to owners of empty homes in the county to encourage them to be brought back into use.
In Shropshire, there are currently over 1,330 homes that have stood empty for more than six months.
Shropshire Council has said these homes and other empty buildings represent a significant wasted resource, both to their owners and to those in housing need across the county and has said the problem of vacant properties can "blight local communities".
While it has the resources to force the sale of empty homes, the authority is urging owners to contact them.
It says the council's empty homes team can offer information, advice and support to owners of empty properties and in some cases can provide financial grants and assistance for owners to bring their properties up to the current housing standard.
The team are also contacted regularly by individuals looking to purchase empty homes in the county to renovate.
Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for growth, regeneration and housing, said: “Empty homes are a wasted resource and often blight communities, especially in a council area such as Shropshire where there is such high demand for housing.
“Our empty homes team can work with owners to assist them in returning their property back to into use. Whilst there are tools available to the council to enforce the sale of empty homes, this is not where we want to focus our efforts.
“We want to encourage owners of empty homes to contact us so we can help them find the solutions that works best for them. This will ultimately ensure empty homes are brought back into use for the benefit of the owner and the wider community.”
He added that the council will also investigate if an empty home is causing problems, such as whether it’s insecure, dangerous, attracts fly-tipping or anti-social behaviour, or if the empty state is causing it to be physically damaging to another property.
