What we have achieved to date

The Empty Property Team has achieved a number of successes since it was set up in 2003 :

Visited 780 empty properties,
Investigated 300 complaints about empty properties,
Encouraged the owners of 140 long-term privately owned empty properties, to renovate them and arrange for them to be occupied,
Served Notices on owners whose empty properties were causing nuisance, through lack of maintenance,
Used a Compulsory Purchase Order to buy one key property, which has now been demolished by a Housing Association and two new houses built on the site,
Encouraged the owners of four empty properties to demolish them voluntarily,
Encouraged several owners to sell their properties to a Housing Association, who have since brought the properties back in to occupation,
Successfully defended the use of a Compulsory Purchase Order at a Public Inquiry to hear the objections of the owner against the CPO. This was subsequently featured on the front page of the Sheffield Star in March 2007 and can be seen using the following link Who'd live in a house like this.

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