Cornwall councillors concerned over empty properties

This week, councillors agreed a 7.7% increase in rent which will help pay for improvement work to be carried out

Councillors are concerned about the number of empty houses in Cornwall.

As of April 2021- when the council last issued an official report- there were 2,599 empty, or, void properties in Cornwall.

Thirty-eight percent of them were in one of the poorest parts of the Duchy, which includes Camborne, Pool and Redruth.

Councillors heard this week that the figure was still in the "low 2,000s".

In a council meeting this week, councillors questioned Cornwall Housing why it takes so long to turn around homes for the local authority tenants, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Councillor Olly Monk, portfolio holder for housing, said "it's really frustrating to see any property not being used to its full potential".

'Not fast enough'

Councillor Tim Dwelly said his understanding is that the void rate is "way higher than it should be".

"If that's the case then clearly we're talking about properties being left empty that could be going to people who are otherwise put into temporary accommodation.

"If our own housing is being left empty and not let fast enough surely we're contributing to people being in temporary accommodation, which is one of the worst crises in our budget."

Councillor John Conway said he had an empty property in his Launceston division which took nearly six months to be occupied.

He said: "Why does it take so long to prepare properties? These are reasonably new properties, not the very old stock."

The council's portfolio holder for housing, Councillor Olly Monk, said the council has to adhere to a higher standard than private landlords.

Councillor Monk said: "It's something I'm constantly aware of and constantly pushing for, to reduce those turnover times. I agree, it takes far too long to turn a property around."

He said the average turnaround time is about 40 days across 10,300 properties.

"I know if there is an empty property in your division, all your residents will contact you and say why is that property empty when we've got such a housing crisis," he said.

Councillor Monk also said empty properties had been reduced from about 3,000 to the low 2,000s by the council's empty homes team, which now has the added work of finding homes for refugees from Ukraine and other areas.

Councillor Monk said: "So it can't maintain the focus that it once did because it hasn't got the budget it once did."

The council agreed to a housing business plan which will see £83m of revenue investment over the next eight years on repairs and maintenance with a priority to deal with damp and mould, while £204m will be spent on building or acquiring new homes.