Long Term Empty Properties

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Dear Sheffield City Council,

I am writing to you to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:

1) Can the council confirm their current number of Long Term Empty Properties as of the 8th May (those domestic properties which have been empty for six months or older)
2) What work is the council currently undertaking or planning to undertake around reducing their long term empty properties in 2019?
3) During 2018 did you undertake any work around reducing your Long Term Empty Properties. If you did was this done using internal resource or a third party?
4) If yes is the answer to question three, did the council review every single long term property
5) Does the reduction of empty homes in the council area form part of your Housing strategy?
6) Does the council have a budget in place to help support the reduction of empty properties?
7) How much did the council spend on temporary accommodation during 2018?
8) Does the council offer financial support /loans to Long Term Empty property owners to help them bring properties back into use?

Yours faithfully,

A McIntosh

FOI, Sheffield City Council

Link: [1]File-List

Dear A McIntosh,

 

Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Long Term
Empty Properties which we received on 14/05/2019.

 

This has been logged as a Freedom of Information Request, and will be
dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act.  The reference number for
your request can be found above.

 

The Freedom of Information Act states that we must respond to you within
20 working days, therefore, you should expect to hear a response from us
by 12/06/2019.

 

In the meantime, if you have any queries please, contact us at the email
address below.

 

Thank you.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sheffield City Council

PO Box 1283

Sheffield, S1 1UJ

Email: [2][Sheffield City Council request email]

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FOI, Sheffield City Council

Dear A McIntosh,

 

Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Long Term
Empty Properties which we received on 14/05/2019.

 

Please find below, Sheffield City Council’s response to your request:

 

I am writing to you to request the following information under the Freedom
of Information Act:

 

1)            Can the council confirm their current number of Long Term
Empty Properties as of the 8th May (those domestic properties which have
been empty for six months or older)

 

As of the end of April 2019:

 

Long Term Empty (6 months +)                       1,925

Long Term Empty Premium (2 years +)         852

Total                                                                    
2,777

 

2)            What work is the council currently undertaking or planning
to undertake around reducing their long term empty properties in 2019?

 

We write to all owners of long term empty properties offering advice and
assistance in bringing their properties back into occupation. Where such
properties are particularly problematic/causing nuisance, we use a full
range of enforcement powers to reduce the negative impact of these
properties.

 

3)            During 2018 did you undertake any work around reducing your
Long Term Empty Properties. If you did was this done using internal
resource or a third party?

 

Yes, see 2 above. We primarily use internal resources but also work with
3^rd parties in order to bring these long term empties back into
occupation.

 

4)            If yes is the answer to question three, did the council
review every single long term property.

 

No, we do not review every single long term empty property.

 

5)            Does the reduction of empty homes in the council area form
part of your Housing strategy?

 

Yes

 

6)            Does the council have a budget in place to help support the
reduction of empty properties?

 

Yes

 

7)            How much did the council spend on temporary accommodation
during 2018?

Our Temporary Accommodation costs are all covered by Housing Benefit,
apart from some emergency accommodation bookings in B&B & hotels. For the
calendar year 2018 we paid out £199,530 for emergency accommodation, and
recovered £101,725 in benefits, the net cost being £97,805.

 

8)            Does the council offer financial support /loans to Long Term
Empty property owners to help them bring properties back into use?

 

No.  However we are reviewing our assistance policy later this year and
empty property loans is one of the issues we will be considering.

 

If you have any queries about this response, please do not hesitate to
contact us.

 

If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your
request, you are entitled to have this reviewed.  You can ask for an
internal review by either writing to the above address or by emailing
[1][Sheffield City Council request email].  Internal review requests should be submitted
within 40 working days from the date of this response.

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your internal review, you
can contact the Information Commissioners Office. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 0303
123 1113, or for further details see their website [2]www.ico.org.uk

 

Kind Regards,

 

Sheffield City Council

PO Box 1283

Sheffield, S1 1UJ

Email: [3][Sheffield City Council request email]

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