Rare law used to renovate rundown Llangennech house

Before and after: The property was previously said to attract vandals and anti-social behaviour

A rare legal order has been used to take over and renovate a privately-owned eyesore property.

Carmarthenshire council used a Final Empty Dwelling Management Order (FEDMO) to gain temporary control of the house at Station Road, Llangennech.

It said the building used to attract vandals, anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping, but is now being rented out.

"We have worked hard to secure this property and bring it back into use," said head of housing Robin Staines.

Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO) legislation allows councils to take over the management of empty residential properties with a view to agreeing with owners a plan to bring them back into occupation.

This can only happen where the council has been unable to persuade the owner to bring the property back into use and considers this course of action is necessary as a last resort.

Only three EDMOs have been granted in Wales and only 50 across the UK, the council said.

A FEDMO, the final stage in the process, has been rarely used in the UK. It enables local authorities to take over management of an empty property for up to seven years.

Rentable standard

Mr Staines said the end-of-terrace three-bedroomed house used to be a blight on the community, but had now been rented out via the council's social lettings agency.

"The rent received will be used to repay the money spent during to bring the property up to a rentable standard," he explained.

The use of an EDMO is just one option available to the authority to secure the improvement and reoccupation of private homes left empty and in disrepair.

The council said it had also recently enforced the sale of several empty homes, and claimed back the debts incurred by auctioning them.

In November 2010 Shelter Cymru called for councils to bring 26,000 empty privately-owned homes in Wales back into use.

Pressure group Empty Homes launched a week-long awareness campaign on Sunday.

The group maintains that the UK government should make it a priority to address Britain's housing shortage.

It wants one million empty homes in the UK to be brought back into use for families in need.