To mark National Empty Homes Week, Northumberland County Council is highlighting the work that is taking place to address the problem of empty properties in the county and is appealing to anyone who owns or knows of a long-term empty property to get in touch. 

With affordable housing in short supply, the council has been taking action in a number of ways to help bring unused properties back into residential use. The Housing Services, Private Sector housing team has assisted in returning over 300 empty properties back into use over the last 5 years. 

If you are an owner of an empty property or if there is a long-term empty property in your neighbourhood the council would like to hear from you to see if it can help.  You can get in touch by contacting our private sector housing team on 0345 600 6400 or email privatesectorhousing@northumberland.gov.uk   

Northumberland County Councillor Colin Horncastle, cabinet member with responsibility for Looking after our Environment said: 

“Properties are left empty for long periods of time, often getting into a state of disrepair and attracting anti-social behaviour, when they could be providing much needed accommodation to people living in Northumberland. 

“Empty homes continue to be an issue in the county and National Empty Homes Week is an ideal opportunity to highlight the work that we are doing to address this problem. 

“We know there is still more work that needs to be done and we will be continuing to identify other properties where we can offer help to provide these homes with a new lease of life.” 

The council can offer a range of advice and assistance, including a free Property Accreditation Scheme, which can help owners to source tenants for their properties, via free advertising on Northumberland Homefinder, and carry out free tenant reference checks. Other powers include the use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders; this is an enforcement procedure used to repair, re-let and manage problematic long term empty properties on the owner’s behalf for a period of around seven years. Once repaired, the properties are let to tenants on Northumberland County Council's housing register.