Pickles puts 'human rights' spin on changes to empty homes law

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is to end rules that mean people – including sellers – who leave their house empty for as little as six months risk having it seized by their local authority.

But the announcement, heavily spun as action to protect the civil liberties of home owners, disguises the fact that local councils have barely used Empty Dwelling Management Orders.

Supporters of the Coalition will be disappointed that the new government has resorted so quickly to spin.

Although up to date figures are seemingly unavailable, by March 2009, just 20 properties had reportedly been taken over by councils in three years.

Indeed, in 2009, the then government appealed to local councils to make use of these powers and issued new guidance.

Introduced by John Prescott in the Housing Act 2004 (the one that gave us HIPs and tenancy deposit protection), Empty Dwelling Management Orders came in during 2006.

They meant that councils could theoretically even seize properties that were up for sale if they had been empty for six months or more and the council felt the asking price was unrealistic.

We have not discovered one case where this happened.

Landlords were also extremely concerned that rental properties with void periods could be seized. But landlord bodies have since said that they also do not know of a single case where an Empty Dwelling Management Order was used on an empty rental property.

Under the Orders, properties did not have to be blighted or boarded up, and councils were also given the right to seize furniture, fixtures and fittings.

But local authorities were unimpressed by the new powers handed them, barely exercising them, despite pressure from Whitehall.

This has not stopped the Government announcing that Pickles is protecting “civil liberties” by introducing “powerful” new safeguards.

In future, Empty Dwelling Management Orders can only be obtained where empty properties are blighted after being targeted by vandals or squatters, and where they have stood empty for at least two years. Property owners will also have to be given three months’ notice. It is not clear whether the three months notice will take the place of the current year-long interim management order regime, during which councils have to work with property owners to resolve the problems which led to the house being empty.

Pickles said some ‘action’ had been inappropriate.

He cited one council which had attempted to use the powers against a home owner whilst she was caring for her injured daughter in France. In another case, he said a council had used an order against the house of a 96-year-old as soon as he passed away in a nursing home, and in another, against a divorced father who faced action because he only lived in the property at weekends to visit his estranged children.

However, the examples seem curious, as the Empty Dwelling Management Orders have rules which say that if an owner is in a care home or away looking after someone, the home cannot be seized.

The new move comes as the Government prepares to introduce incentives to bring back into use many of the estimated 300,000 long-term privately owned empty properties in England and a further 80,000 empty homes owned by local councils or housing associations.

Under the New Homes Bonus scheme, the Government will match the council tax raised from any council tax collected from a property that previously stood empty.

Pickles said: “There is a case for action to put boarded-up and blighted properties back into use. But these draconian and heavy-handed state powers have allowed councils to seize private homes in perfect condition, including their fixtures and fittings, just because the homes have been empty for a short while.

“The Coalition Government is standing up for the civil liberties of law-abiding citizens. Fundamental human rights include the right to property. People suffering the loss of a loved one should not have to endure the added indignity of having their home seized because of a delay in them deciding what to do with it.

“That’s why the new Government is introducing new safeguards that mean the rights of responsible home owners will be protected, while allowing action to be taken against genuine derelict buildings which blight neighbourhoods.”

Fine words indeed.