Empty Property Owner Advice

Owners of empty properties

Keeping a property empty brings with it many problems:

• targeted by vandals and squatters
• regular visits are needed to the property to ensure it is secure
• repairs and general maintenance still have to be carried out and insurance and council tax still has to be paid
• insurance can be invalid if unoccupied more than 30 days (always check with your insurance company) 

Options for owners

The options for bringing your property back into use include:

• re-occupying your property yourself
• letting and managing the property yourself
• iability for council tax and utilities would pass to the new owners or occupiers
• managing the property yourself with tenants nominated by our homeless prevention service through the Rent Deposit Guarantee Scheme
• letting the property through a letting and management agent
• selling the property via an estate agent
• selling the property at auction

The benefits of bringing a property back into use

For owners

Owners could benefit from:

• rental income or better sales potential
• help with finding tenants
• preventing damage caused by anti-social behavior 
• hassle free property management
• help and advice on legal responsibilities and standards
• energy efficiency advice.

For the local area

The local area could benefit from:

• removing an eye-sore property within the neighbourhood
• improvement in the neighbourhood by promoting investment in the area
• maintaining the value of neighbourhood properties

 For the city

Wolverhampton benefits from:

• making maximum use of all housing stock to provide decent homes.
• wider housing choice for residents

The Empty Property team can

• bring empty properties back into use
• working with the community to identify and secure empty properties
• tracing property owners 
• purchasing an empty property
• force owners to bring the property back into use as a last resort

Report an empty property

If you have concerns about a property being empty then you should report it.