In reply to your enquiry about grants and how owners of empty properties could

benefit from a range of schemes on offer by the London Borough of Hounslow to help
them return the property to occupation I enclose below a brief explanation of the
various schemes available.

1. Private Sector Leasing – The property is leased to the Council at a

guaranteed rent for 3-5 years. The property is also managed by the LA during
this period, and the property will be returned to the owner in the same condition
is was originally leased in.

2. Rent Deposit Scheme - this scheme gives a security deposit of up to 4 weeks

rent in advance.

3. Empty Property Grant - you may be able to claim a grant to help with the cost
of repairing a long-term vacant property.

Hounslow Council is offering owners of empty properties the opportunity of a grant to

bring their property up to Decent Homes standard (defined below) and return it to
occupation.

For a dwelling to be considered as decent, it must meet four criteria;

• It must be above the current statutory minimum standard for housing [i.e. have
no Category 1 hazards when assessed under the Housing Health and Safety
Rating System (HHSRS)];
• It must be in a reasonable state of repair;
• It must have reasonable modern facilities and services (kitchen, bathrooms and
toilet) and;
• It must provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort (effective insulation and
heating).

Empty Property Grant:

The London Borough of Hounslow will provide a grant of up to £15,000 to the owner of
properties that have been empty for more than 6 consecutive months.

The purpose of the grant is to contribute towards the costs of whatever repair works
are necessary to bring the property up to the Decent Homes Standard.

The grant MUST be match funded by the owner of the property. So, if £20,000 of
works are necessary, the LA will provide a grant of £10,000, and the owner must
contribute the remaining £10,000. If £40,000 of works are necessary, the LA will
provide £15,000, and the owner will have to pay the remainder, £25,000.

If an owner of an empty property decides they want to take advantage of a grant, they
should be aware that the property has to be leased to Council under the Private Sector
Leasing Scheme for 5 years, meaning they will also get a guaranteed rent for 5 years
after all the works have been done.

An officer from the Council will inspect the empty property and devise a schedule of
works that are necessary to bring the property up to the decent homes standard. The
owner would then have to get two quotes from builders for the necessary works, and
submit these quotes to the LA for approval.
Better Homes Grant:
Additionally, a Better Homes Grant is also available, under which we can provide up to
50% of the cost of works to bring the property up to Decent Homes Standard up to a
maximum of £3,000.

The purpose of the grant is to contribute towards the costs of whatever repair works
are necessary to bring the property up to the Decent Homes Standard. This is usually
renewal of any one of , or all of the kitchen, bathroom, central heating, electrical rewire
and windows.

The grant MUST be match funded by the owner of the property. So, if £6,000 of works
are necessary, the LA will provide a grant up to a maximum of £3,000, and the owner
must contribute the remaining £3,000. If £10,000 of works are necessary, the LA will
provide £3,000, and the owner will have to pay the remainder, £7,000.

If a Landlord decides they want to take advantage of a grant, they should be aware
that the property has to be leased to Council under the Direct Lets Scheme for 2
years, meaning they will also get a guaranteed rent for 2 years after all the works have
been done.

An officer from the Council will inspect the empty property and devise a schedule of
works that are necessary to bring the property up to the decent homes standard. The
owner would then have to get one quote from builders for the necessary works, and
submit this quote to the LA for approval

Procedure:
For both types of grants the landlord should in the first instance contact the relevant
officer (either Judy Greenwood or Huw Jones) to discuss the property and the number
of rooms available.
From this a referral will be sent to Keith Dickens who will arrange to visit the property
to carry out a survey and process the grant application.

Enforcement
If the owners of empty properties do not take advantage of the schemes offered by the
council, and are not taking their own action to return the property into occupation, the
council can take enforcement action.

In cases where a property has been empty for a significant length of time, and the
owner is failing to bring the property back into use within a reasonable timescale, then
as a last resort the council may commence one of the following courses of
enforcement action to bring the property back into use:

• Compulsory purchase order (CPO). The council can ask the secretary of
state to make a CPO in respect of an empty property.

• Empty dwelling management order (EDMO). The council can make an order
to take over the management of an empty property.

• Enforced sale. The council can recover debt on an empty property by forcing
the sale.
I draw your attention to the Housing Act 2004, which came into force in April 2006,
where local authorities now have the power to seek Empty Dwelling Management
Orders (EDMO), and this allows LA to effectively take over the management of the
property.
This can happen in instances where a property has been unoccupied for six months or
more and the owner is either absent or not willing to return the property into
occupation.

Furthermore, if the LA has to carry out any works at the property whilst it is empty, e.g.
to make it safe or to stop it becoming occupied by squatters, the LA can apply for an
order forcing the owner to sell the property so we can recover the costs of any works
we have carried out.

Contact for Better Homes Grant:

Huw Jones
Landlord Liaison Officer
Direct Lets
London Borough of Hounslow

T: 0208 583 3869

W: Huw.Jones@hounslow.gov.uk

Contact for Empty Property Grant:

Judy Greenwood
Direct lets & Procurement Officer
London Borough of Hounslow

T: 0208 583 4421

W: Judy.Greenwood@hounslow.gov.uk

Contact for Empty Property Grant:

Allan Bray
Community Services
London borough Hounslow

T: 0208 583 3861

W: Allan.Bray@hounslow.gov.uk

Contact for Private Sector Housing Unit:

Keith Dickens
Empty Property Officer
Private Sector Housing Unit
London Borough Hounslow

T: 020 583 4657

W: keith.dickens@hounslow.gov.uk