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shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
Scottish Empty Homes Partnership Guide to data collection – 2012 update
2shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
Contents
Cover photo: Scottish Empty Homes Partnership
Introduction 3
Beginning to build a database 4
Overview of sources of information 5
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 and sharing data within councils 6
Identifying empty properties 7
Council tax 7
Postal and on foot surveys 8
Working internally 10
Working with partners 10
One Scotland Gazetteer 11
Utility companies 11
Publicity campaigns 11
General Register Office for Scotland 11
Census 12
Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics 12
Identifying owners of empty properties 13
Council tax 13
Neighbours 13
People finder services 13
Registers of Scotland (Land Register) 14
Electoral Register 14
Companies House 15
Insolvency Register 15
Conclusion 16
Next steps 16
Further information 16
3shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
Introduction
This guide aims to provide information about data sources in Scotland for council officers embarking on private sector empty homes work. This guide is based on information gathered in the first two years of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership’s work. Best practice has been gathered from the Empty Homes Network (formerly National Association of Empty Property Practitioners) (England/Wales), Homes from Empty Homes (formerly the Empty Homes Agency) (England), Shelter Cymru (Wales) and through discussions with Scottish local authorities and holders of information sources in Scotland.
We welcome feedback on the contents and usefulness of this guide to feed into future updates.
There are a number of other guides, quick reference sheets and templates available from the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, including:
nn Guide to developing an empty homes action plan
nn Guide to financing private sector empty homes work
nn Advice and information for empty home owners – template
nn Empty homes prioritisation matrix – template
‘From a local authority perspective, without at least a reliable estimate of the numbers, the impact and scale of empty private homes cannot be gauged nor an accurate assessment made, of whether they merit any priority for resources and intervention. Without knowledge of locations (addresses) it cannot be guaranteed that any supply boost would equate with the location of known housing need. Without knowledge of ownership, targeting owners to offer support or serve enforcement notices cannot be initiated.’ Annie Flint and Hector Currie, Review of the Private Rented Sector, March 2009
nn Information gathering quick reference sheet
nn Local housing strategy quick reference guide
nn Matchmaking and developer days quick reference guide
nn Using the Report Empty Homes website – quick reference guide
nn Empty Homes Surveys – quick reference guide
If you would like to be sent an electronic copy of any of our guides or templates, please contact the Empty Homes Coordinator.
Contact:Kristen Hubert Empty Homes Coordinator Shelter Scotland
0344 515 2461 [email protected]
4shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
Report Empty Homes website Since November 2010 Scottish local authorities have had the option to sign up to the Report Empty Homes website, which enables them to receive reports from the public of empty homes they are concerned about. To date, 26 Scottish councils have signed up to use the website. Reports from the public go directly to an officer in the appropriate council who can use that data to update their database and get in touch with empty home owners to try to help them bring their properties back into use.
Councils can choose to publicise the website locally to collect more information from the public and can record in their database when a report has been made. This can be useful when it comes to prioritising which empty homes cases deserve the most attention from the council. If a property is causing distress to the local community, this can be a reason to bump it up the priority list.
Some councils that have not used council tax information do have an idea of the number and rough geographical location of empty homes based on their council-wide house conditions survey. This data is able to give an idea of tenure and geographical concentrations, but not of exact addresses.
There are various methods that can be used to compile the information necessary for empty homes work. This guide presents information on some of the best known and most widely used, along with examples of where they have been used successfully.
Whether you are starting to compile your database or beginning to think about what to do now that you have the necessary data to hand, you are encouraged to contact the Empty Homes Coordinator, who may be able to provide further ideas.
Beginning to build a databaseThe first step in undertaking empty homes work, or indeed in deciding to undertake empty homes work, is to build up a picture of how many empty homes are in your area and where they are. Without having an understanding of the scale of the problem (or the potential, depending on how you look at it) it will be all but impossible to tailor policy to ensure you are making the best use of the assets that empty homes represent.
In its most basic form the information that a database should include is:
nn the number of empty homes
nn the location (address) of empty homes
nn the name of the owner of the empty home
Of course, if you decide to further pursue bringing homes back into use, information about the general state of the properties, any charges against the properties and the length of time they have been empty will also be useful.
From the 2009 Scottish Government Private Rented Sector Review, which included a survey of councils, it was found that of the possible data collection methods, councils indicated that these were the most useful to them:
nn council tax records
nn local surveys
nn 2001 Census
Using council tax data as the basis for a database that can be added to/made more accurate through other sources is a practice widely used in England. English authorities will use different methods, but most do recognise the importance of keeping a database and this is almost invariably based on council tax records in the first instance and supplemented by other sources (such as those detailed throughout this guide). Many of the suggestions in the section on tracing empty property owners were suggested by members of the Empty Homes Network, which operates in England and Wales.
A survey of the Scottish Empty Homes Officer Network in May 2011 found that 12 councils reported having a database of private sector empty homes, with a further five developing one. The most common source of input for this database was reported as local authority council tax data (11 councils), followed by the Report Empty Homes website (five councils).
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5shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
nn utility companies
nn publicity campaigns
nn General Register Office for Scotland
nn Census
nn Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics
The second section moves on to deal with sources of information for identifying owners of empty properties:
nn council tax
nn people finder services
nn Registers of Scotland (Land Register)
nn Electoral Register
nn Companies House
nn Insolvency Register
Overview of sources of informationThis guide will cover sources of information for identifying the number of empty properties in your local authority, the location (address) of empty properties, and for identifying owners of empty properties. Some sources can be used for more than one of these purposes, such as council tax, which should always be your first port of call for identifying both number, address and owners of empty properties. Other sources of information can verify and/or build on this information.
The first section of this guide deals with sources of information for identifying numbers or location of empty properties:
nn council tax
nn postal and on foot surveys
nn working internally
nn working with partners
nn One Scotland Gazetteer
Ceredigion Council, Wales
Ceredigion Council has been hailed as a good practice example with regard to its database of empty homes. The council has a population of 75,000 and 700 empty homes. The council has held a database for the last three years and updates it quarterly, based on council tax data. The collection of this data is part of the council’s Empty Homes Strategy, which links into its wider Housing Strategy. In order to get the finance section to share their data, officers referred to the relevant legislation about data sharing in England and Wales and offered to feed back to council tax staff any new information about properties or owners that they might collect. Thus the officers working on empty homes were able to establish a process for sharing data internally and council tax staff will receive useful information for their own work.
The council uses a ‘Flare’ database. The empty homes section of this is based on Microsoft Excel so it is relatively user friendly and easy to interrogate. Through the database the council is able to create a GIS mapping of empty properties. The council verifies the information on ownership with the land property gazetteer and uses the combined information to survey empty property owners in order to target those who want to work with the council to bring their empty properties back into use.
Work on empty homes is part of several people’s jobs at Ceredigion Council and is split between Environmental Health Officers and Technical Officers. It has been estimated that the council has one FTE dedicated to empty homes work (split between four members of staff).
Photograp
hy by John Angerson
6shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
The current text in Schedule 2 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14) (council tax: administration), is:
18A (1) A billing authority may use information it has obtained for the purpose of carrying out its functions under Part 1 of this Act for the purpose of —
(a) identifying vacant dwellings, or
(b) taking steps to bring vacant dwellings back into use.
(2) The power under sub-paragraph (1) above, so far as relating to personal information, extends only to information which consists of an individual’s name or an address or number for communicating with him.
(3) In this paragraph— ‘personal information’ means information which relates to an individual (living or dead) who can be identified —
(a) from that information, or
(b) from that information and other information of the authority, and includes any expression of opinion about the individual and any indication of the intentions of any person in respect of the individual; ‘vacant dwelling’ means a dwelling in which no one lives and which is substantially unfurnished.
Sec. 157 was commenced on 7 October 2011 and is now in force. As a result any officer in a council who has been given responsibility for empty homes work should be able to contact their colleagues in council tax to obtain the information they need on the addresses, owners and the length of time empty of properties listed as vacant on the council tax records.
West Dunbartonshire Council West Dunbartonshire Council’s housing and finance departments have developed a system for sharing council tax information. Council tax data on vacant dwellings, who owns them and how long they have been empty is collated into a report and shared with housing colleagues working on empty homes on a quarterly basis. This both saves time and keeps records up to date for officers who are attempting to engage with empty home owners based on this data.
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 and sharing data within councilsThe primary source for information about empty homes is council tax records. In the first year of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership’s work it became apparent that practice differed from council to council with regards to sharing council tax data on vacant dwellings between council departments. As vacant dwelling council tax data is the single largest source of data for officers developing an empty homes database, this co-operation is key.
Differences in interpretation of the Data Protection Act were behind this difference in practice within councils, and in those councils where data wasn’t shared there was a serious barrier to empty homes work progressing. Thankfully, the situation has now been clarified by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010.
Section 157 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 appears as follows:
157 Vacant dwellings: use of information obtained for council tax purposes
(1) In paragraph 18A(1) of Schedule 2 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c.14)—
(a) for ‘A billing’ substitute ‘An’,
(b) after ‘Part 1’ insert ‘or Part 2’.
(2) In section 129(8)(a) of the Local Government Act 2003 (c.26), the word ‘85,’ is repealed.
This section extends to Scottish local authorities the already existing express permission for English and Welsh local authorities to use council tax data for the purposes of identifying vacant dwellings and attempting to bring them back in to use.
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7shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
While council tax data is a good place to start to compile a database it can be necessary and/or useful to supplement the database with other sources of information (some of these are discussed in sections below). In addition, some empty homes are not included in council tax exemptions. For example, long-term uninhabitable buildings that have been removed from council tax altogether, empty spaces above shops (which are taxed under business rates rather than domestic council tax) and non-residential properties that have the potential to be converted into homes.
Empty homes council tax levy proposals
The Scottish Government has recently consulted on proposals to allow councils to stop the practice of giving vacant dwellings council tax discounts, as well as giving councils the power to charge a levy above standard council tax rates for long-term vacant dwellings.
If these proposals are implemented and your council is thinking of applying a levy, there are a couple of issues to think about that relate to data.
1) How long after the house is determined to be a long-term vacant property will your council charge a levy? If it is too soon, there could be a risk that people will not tell the council it is vacant and you could lose a valuable source of data.
2) What help, advice and assistance does your council offer empty home owners? If you leave a period of time between a property falling vacant and beginning to charge a levy, it may still be attractive for owners to tell the council it is vacant if they believe they will get help from the council in that time to bring it back into use.
Council taxAcross Britain this is seen as the first place to go to begin to build a local database. This is because all councils collect information from householders to determine the amount of council tax that should be paid by them. Councils also discount council tax for vacant properties, which is noted in the Council Tax Register. The information collected in the Council Tax Register therefore should include the name and address of the council tax payer and the date that an empty property discount came into effect.
An interrogation of this data to extract the council’s own stock as well as RSL stock should provide a global number of empty properties within a council area. It should also be possible to generate a list of empty addresses along with the name of the council tax payer. Council tax staff should be able to provide you with the length of time each property has been empty and the reason recorded for receiving the vacant dwelling council tax discount, which can be useful when it comes time to prioritise properties to focus on.
In order to translate this data into an effective database, the data should be held by the officer in the council responsible for empty homes work and updated regularly. A system of updating council tax data in the empty homes database should be set up. This can mean that council tax staff send an update of the data to this officer at set periods through the year, say every month, or it could involve the officer getting read-only access to council tax data so they can extract updates themselves. Whichever way it is done, the key is for the database to be:
a) accessible by the officer or officers responsible for empty homes work
b) updated regularly.
Your council may have its own software that will be useful for compiling your database, but an effective database can be created with a programme as simple as Microsoft Excel. There is no reason why access to the right software should be a barrier to creating an up-to-date and effective empty homes database.
Identifying empty properties
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South Ayrshire Empty Homes Survey In 2010, South Ayrshire Council surveyed all the empty home owners on their database to ask them why their properties were empty and what help the council might be able to provide to bring their property back into use.
The council sent out 1,000 surveys and had a response rate of over 30 per cent. The high return rate may have been down to the council’s offer to enter respondents into a raffle to win high street vouchers. From the survey, the council gathered valuable information about the types of properties that were empty in their area and a list of owners who want to work with the council.
As of November 2010, South Ayrshire’s council tax records indicated that a total of 1,113 properties had been empty for six months or longer. This prompted a survey of all owners of empty properties to identify why properties were empty and what support would encourage owners to bring the properties back into use. Twenty-nine per cent (323) of all those surveyed responded and some of the key findings are noted below:
nn 40% of empty properties are second/holiday homes
nn 24% were inherited
nn 15% were bought as an investment or to rent out
nn 16% of respondents indicated that being responsible for an empty home ‘frequently or constantly’ caused them problems
nn the reasons for property being empty varied – needing repair/renovation (21%), trying to sell (12%), trying to rent out (9%)
nn 25% thought a grant or loan to help with renovation would help them bring the property back into use and 12% suggested help and advice with renting would be useful to them
nn 40% of owners would be willing to work with the council.
Postal and on foot surveysMany councils find surveys/questionnaires of empty home owners (council tax payers) useful for a variety of reasons, including:
nn determining the reasons why properties are empty in their area
nn information gained can be used to target policies
nn information gained can be used to target particular properties
nn information gained can supplement and update the council’s database of empty homes
nn receiving the survey can raise awareness among owners of the desirability of filling an empty home as well as the potential to work with the council.
The survey will be more useful for these purposes if you exclude transient empty properties and focus on long-term empties. The best way to do this is to restrict it to owners whose properties have been empty for a certain period (say six months or more). However there may be arguments for including all empty property owners, for instance if your council has chosen to place an emphasis on early intervention and prevention.
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9shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
Argyll & Bute – on foot survey In 2006 a survey was carried out to try to get a clearer picture of what and where ‘empty homes’ were. A range of information sources were used, including closing orders, demolition orders and council tax information. The council tax services provided a list of long-term empty property with 10 per cent discounts, second homes receiving 10 per cent discount, and empty and unfurnished
exemptions on request. The Private Sector team at Argyll & Bute at that time consisted of four Area Private Sector officers who would be out in their area assessing properties for grant and other actions as part of routine work so it was relatively easy to add the additional basic property surveys to their workload over a couple of months. To that extent, there was no additional funding required.
Example:
Empty Homes SurveyAddress: Lochgilphead
Owner: XXXX
Source: Owner
Survey date: 22/5/06
Description and conditionTwo terraced blocks of four houses each. Roughcast cavity brick walls, pitched slate roofs. Timber double-glazed windows. Appear in good condition. Have lain empty for two years according to a neighbour and now need an external overhaul
to gutters, painting soffits and replacing a few slates. Internals look OK from what can be seen through windows.
CommentsPlans to demolish and redevelop the site.
There was no more detailed information but what we could do from the basic survey information was categorise buildings into:
1. tenements where all units were empty
2. tenements flats with mixed empty/occupied units
3. individual houses requiring considerable regeneration
4. individual houses apparently occupiable in current condition.
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Secondly, surveys of empty property owners across the country frequently come back with comments from owners that their property is empty because of the length of time it takes to go through the planning process and report an almost adversarial relationship with the council, instead of one of co-operation. You may be able to facilitate more productive relationships between owners (who may find the system complicated and difficult to navigate) and planning officers (who may be snowed under with work and unable to provide the one-on-one guidance and support that owners are looking for).
Of course there will also be owners who blame the planning system without cause but in either case closer relationships with planning can ensure that you are aware of what the potential of a given property is and you may be able to help the process along.
Landlord registration: Landlords must now register through the landlord registration scheme. Council staff working in this area may be open to releasing information about landlords to you. For example, information from the register could help identify other properties owned by landlords of empty properties or contact details that can be used to start a dialogue about the property you are interested in.
Excerpt from Newcastle Empty Homes Strategy 2008–2012
‘There is recognition that partnership working will be crucial in relation to the success of the strategy. The delivery of the strategy is through the private sector housing team but good links with other departments such as Planning, Housing Strategy, Building Control and Revenue and Benefits are important in the identification of empty homes, awareness raising and applying a range of enforcement measures using housing and planning legislation. It is therefore proposed that a cross-department Empty Homes Working Group will be formed to meet and co-ordinate action.’
Working with partnersAs well as sharing information internally, working with community planning and other partners can also be very useful.
Possible sources:Police and Fire: Empty homes are known to be at high risk of arson and can attract other forms of crime. For these reasons, police and fire services frequently come across empty homes and may be willing to share information. Local police officers may also be able to help with tracing owners if they are known to them.
Working internally In order to supplement data obtained from the council tax register, information sharing between council departments can be invaluable.
Possible sourcesWaste collection: Unoccupied homes tend not to produce any household waste and/or can become a target for fly-tipping, so it should be quite easy for those collecting refuse to identify empty homes. Some waste collection services keep a record of empty homes in order to help them plan their services. Waste collection is a service that is sometimes provided directly by the council and sometimes contracted out. In either case there may be mutual advantages to sharing information.
Private sector house conditions survey: If your council has carried out a house conditions survey, there may be useful information you can draw from it. While it will not provide addresses, it can help to gather data about clusters of empty homes or highlight which areas of the local authority seem to have higher vacancy rates. However it has been reported that in some house condition surveys, empty properties are not always recorded properly due to access issues. If your council is interested in empty homes work, it might be useful to set out how you would like empty properties recorded in your next house condition survey to ensure that the data returned is useful to you.
Environmental health: Environmental Health Officers are often the first to receive complaints about empty homes, especially in cases where there are concerns about vermin or other health issues. They may have information about problem properties that they have had to investigate. In extreme cases, these officers can also undertake legal action.
Building Standards Department: Similar to Environmental Health Officers, building standards staff can sometimes find themselves handling complaints about empty buildings that are seen to be unsafe. They might be able to give you information on the properties they are monitoring.
Planning Department: Your planning department can be useful in two ways. Firstly, the planning department will hold information on planning applications either approved or being processed. This information can be useful in supplementing your empty homes database by giving you an idea of intended use – if the owner is waiting to hear about a planning application to renovate the property, this may be what is delaying them bringing the property back into use.
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gas supply). Many utility companies may be interested in sharing data, but there are two issues that may make this difficult:
nn the deregulation of utility services means that there are many service providers
nn the sharing of some types of data may breach data protection legislation.
Data protection issues may mean that utility companies cannot share the bill payer’s (or last bill payer’s) name or current address but if it is a case of trying to verify whether or not a property is empty, simply knowing they are not being supplied with services can help to make that assumption.
Publicity campaignsOne method often reported as being of use in determining if a property is empty and finding the owner is speaking to neighbours. In England and Wales, there are dedicated Empty Homes Officers within many councils who are able to perform site visits as well as contact neighbours to try to find further information. This may be possible in Scotland, especially if the empty home is considered a priority, but staff may find that speaking to neighbours is too time consuming.
One way to cut down on staff time in getting in touch with neighbours is to engage in publicity campaigns from time to time, encouraging local residents to come forward with information about empty homes they are concerned about. The Report Empty Homes website (www.reportemptyhomes.com) could be used to funnel information from such campaigns through to the council. At time of publication, there are 26 councils in Scotland using the Report Empty Homes website.
General Register Office for ScotlandAs well as holding census data (see below), the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS)publishes each year the ‘Estimates of Households and Dwellings in Scotland’, which includes information on vacant properties broken down by local authority area as well as by data zone.
GROS figures include both public and private sector dwellings. The data behind the report comes from council reports to the Scottish Government on council tax discounts, with an adjustment made to account for differences in recording. The report for 2010 can be found on the GROS website at: www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/household-estimates-statistics/household-estimates-2010/index.html
Housing associations: Most councils already have close working relationships with the housing associations in their area. These relationships can be useful as housing associations can not only provide information about empty private sector dwellings within mixed blocks, for example, but they can also potentially be part of the solution to empty homes further down the line. For this reason, sharing information early on and becoming aware of which empty private properties are of concern to your local housing association can be a useful exercise.
One Scotland GazetteerThe One Scotland Gazetteer is a database of all properties in Scotland with a unique property reference number (UPRN). The gazetteer is administered by a team in the Improvement Service and all councils have their own Local Authority Gazetteer giving these unique property reference numbers to properties in their area.
It is possible to link other council databases to this UPRN so that several records can be pulled up for one property – for example, theoretically you could enter a UPRN and see if it has a vacant property council tax discount, see if there are any charges against the property and whether the owner has applied for planning permission or change of use. There will be other ways in which such a system could be useful for empty homes work, as well as generally adding to the efficiency of council work across departments.
Councils are at different stages with regards to integrating their own systems with the gazetteer. It may be worth making some enquiries in your council to see what data has been integrated with this system and if there is scope to add to or access this for the purposes of empty homes work.
If you would like more information on the gazetteer, please get in touch with the Empty Homes Coordinator, who can provide you with further information and put you in touch with the Gazetteer team at the Improvement Service. Also see the Improvement Service website: www.improvementservice.org.uk/national-gazetteer
Utility companiesProperties that use no utility services (gas, electricity, water) are likely to be empty. Utility companies have records of usage, and of properties that have been disconnected. While these records are not likely to be an exact record of empty homes, they are a good indicator. Electricity and water are likely to be the best services to check (many occupied homes have no
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CensusA national census is carried out every 10 years and provides the most complete of household surveys. It is possible to obtain accurate information on the numbers and whereabouts (although not exact addresses) of empty properties. General information is available free on the website of the General Register Office for Scotland: www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/census/censushm/index.html. Most councils purchase the more detailed information on DVD as well.
On the General Register Office for Scotland website look for ‘Key Statistics for Settlements and Localities in Scotland’ and the table entitled ‘Dwellings, household spaces and accommodation type’. This table includes an estimated number of vacant dwellings for each local authority area.
A census was carried out in the UK in 2011. The data is due to be available in the second half of 2012. For more details see: www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk
Scottish Neighbourhood StatisticsPercentages of vacant dwellings (all tenures) can be found on the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics website and can be broken down by local authority and by data zone. These statistics are also taken from council-supplied council tax discount data, however this site gives more options for interrogating the data than the General Register for Scotland Estimates of Households and Dwellings site.
To see information for your local authority, access the SNS web page at www.sns.gov.uk, then:
1. Select ‘Advanced Reporter’
2. In ‘Area Type’, select ‘Local Authority’, then
3. Tick the boxes for whichever LA(s) you want to select, and
4. Click ‘Next’, then
5. In the top left drop down box ‘Main Topics’, select ‘Housing’, then
6. In the box below from the ‘Sub-topics’ menu, select ‘Household Estimates’ from the drop down menu.
You will see on the right-hand side of the page that one of the topics available is ‘% dwellings which are vacant’ for years 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Tick the box against the ones you want, click add to list, then ‘View Result’. A table should appear.
See: www.sns.gov.uk/default.aspx
If you go to the List of Tables and chose Table 9 you will get a breakdown by local authority.
Vacant dwellings in this report include:
nn dwellings exempt from council tax, which are unoccupied (normally properties can be empty for up to six months and receive a council tax exemption)
nn dwellings subject to a council tax discount of between 10 per cent and 50 per cent due to being empty long term (in most cases, they will be empty for at least six months).
Second homes are subject to a council tax discount of between 10 per cent and 50 per cent. This includes self-catering holiday accommodation available to let for a total of less than 140 days per year.
Occupied dwellings are all dwellings minus those that are vacant or second homes.
When interpreting the figures, it is important to note that not all vacant dwellings may be included here if they do not receive a council tax discount or exemption. For example, short-term vacancies can arise when people move house. In addition, second homes that are let out for more than 140 days per year are not liable to pay council tax – they are instead liable to pay non-domestic rates. This means that such dwellings are not included here, in either the figures on second homes or the total number of dwellings.
When used in conjunction with your council’s own information about public sector voids this data can be a useful and quick way of estimating the global number of empty properties in your local authority, even before you approach your council tax colleagues to try to get more accurate and geographically focused data.
Photograp
hy: Shelter
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nn Companies that charge for people searches using data from the electoral roll, birth certificates, death certificates etc. For examples see:
— www.tracesmart.co.uk
— www.peopletrace.com
— www.ukpeoplefinder.com
nn Online service such as 192.com, which you pay to search the electoral roll and other information (see www.192.com/help/tools-guides/electoral-roll or www.theukelectoralroll.co.uk)
nn A data product purchased by the council, such as the UKinfo People and Business Finder CD Rom, which uses data from the electoral roll, Directory Inquiries and company listings. An alternative database people searcher product called QAS Name Tracer Pro is available from Experian (see www.192.com/products/details/114 or www.qas.co.uk/products/id-authentication-and-name-tracing/nametracer.htm).
nn HM Prison Service – Prisoner Location Service can be used if you believe the owner of the property may be in prison. Email [email protected] for more information.
nn Some companies (such as Kin) specialise in finding estate beneficiaries and can be used (for a fee) in a case where a property is lying empty because the beneficiary cannot be found. Some of Kin’s services are only provided in England and Wales. See: www.kin.co.uk/find_beneficiaries.html
nn You can also try searching genealogy websites to find family links/name changes. See: www.ancestry.co.uk or www.genesreunited.com or www.ukbmd.org.uk
nn You can also search on Facebook (www.facebook.com), Bebo (www.bebo.com), MySpace (www.myspace.com) and Twitter (www.twitter.com) if you are looking to find an owner whose name you know. You can usually search within a city or country to narrow the number of results you come up with. People list all sorts of information on these sites, sometimes even including phone numbers.
There are other companies and other data products available, however these are the ones that have been highlighted by Empty Homes Officers in England as being useful to them.
Once you know that a property is empty and you have decided you want to get in touch with the owner to discuss the property, you will need to find out who the owner is. In many cases this will be straightforward, in others you may need to do a bit more digging. Below are some suggestions of where to find this information.
Council taxFor every council tax record, there will be a record of the person who pays the council tax for that property. Even if this person isn’t the owner, they can usually put you in touch with the owner.
NeighboursIt may sound obvious, but sometimes neighbours of the empty property you are concerned about will have information about the owner that doesn’t appear on council tax records. If you are able to visit the property and ask around the neighbourhood, this can be a good method of gaining valuable information.
People finder servicesIn most cases, council tax records or information from neighbours or colleagues should get you the information you require, but in some cases (where council tax is either not being paid or a vacant home discount has not been applied) this information may not be available. If you have tried other methods with no luck, you may want to use a people finder service.
There are several kinds of people finder services:
nn Companies that provide a search service, such as Grafton Online, who find property owners, next of kin or solicitors in charge of the estate. This service is free to councils. Grafton then offer their services, at a fee, to the home owner in advising them on how to get their property back on the market should they wish to do so. In limited cases Grafton has put up money for renovations that they then recouped on sale of the property. In any case, the people finder service is free to councils whether or not the owner chooses to deal with Grafton (see www.graftononline.com).
Identifying empty property owners
14shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
Electoral RegisterThe Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) is an official appointed by the local authority to prepare and maintain the Register of Electors.
You can find out who your Electoral Registration Officer is through the Scottish Assessors Association (see: www.saa.gov.uk). This officer may be a good first port of call if you are interested in searching the electoral roll. They may also hold information about properties where owners have completed the electoral registration form indicating that the property is vacant. It may be worth asking if they compile these records and are willing to share them with you.
Alternatively you can use various online fee-based electoral roll searches (links to several of these above in the ‘People finder services’ section).
Registers of Scotland (Land Register)Registers of Scotland hold the Land Register. For a fee of up to £14 plus VAT the Registers of Scotland can search the Land Register to confirm the current owner of a property. They provide the name and address of the owner and any outstanding mortgages on the property. Turn-around time is seven days. See: www.ros.gov.uk
Many councils have access to the Land Registry through Registers Direct and it may be worth checking if your council already has an account. See: www.ros.gov.uk/registersdirect
This source can be useful for confirming the owner of a property and potentially getting a current residential address for them. It may also be possible to contact lenders included on the charges register of the land registry search in order to get in touch with owners.
Grafton Online – Owner Search Case in Manchester
‘This case involved a derelict property in very poor condition, which was a continuing eyesore and dumping ground for rubbish. The Council had spent close to £7,000 over a number of years clearing rubbish from the gardens and securing the property against damage and being a hazard to local residents.
‘The house was unregistered and as such ownership was uncertain as the last occupier had died some seven years previous. We found the death certificate of the occupier and conducted extensive research to locate next of kin, who lived in America and had moved there via Canada.
‘Upon contacting the family we explained the purpose of our research and offered our assistance in proving title and selling the house. The brother of the late owner had travelled to Manchester to bury his sister but had left the UK before administrating her estate due to a lack of legal knowledge and fear of the potential costs involved.
‘We offered to administer the estate via our solicitors in Leeds, who also have an office in
Manchester, and do so at our risk. This in effect meant we would prove title, sell the property and arrange payment to the council of all and any monies owed to them. This we did with the understanding that if for whatever reason we could not prove title or legally sell the property we would incur all costs and expenditures. This of course gave peace of mind to the family, who were happy for us to represent them and proceed with the administration.
‘We managed to prove title and sell the house within a six-month period. This saw the council receive all monies due to them and for the family to benefit financially.
‘This is a particularly good example of the benefits we can offer as this was a case which could potentially have been left in legal limbo for many years as the Treasury Solicitor would not have been able to advertise such an estate without first proving title and that could only be done once family had been found.’
Mark Byrne, Grafton Online Ltd
Photograp
hy: Shelter
15shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
Insolvency RegisterThe Insolvency Register is maintained by the Accountant in Bankruptcy and can be accessed free of charge on their website. You need to set up an account with a username and password before you can search the site but it is free to access and you can search as often as you like.
The register is searchable by name, address or case number and will provide information on any current (undischarged) bankruptcy cases. So for example, you could type the empty property address into the search on the Insolvency Register, and if the owner of the property has been declared bankrupt within the last two years, their name will appear along with the trustee for the case.
There are a variety of ways in which a search of this site could be useful to you in trying to track down owners or in order to verify information. The register can also be searched for companies that have been declared bankrupt.
To sign up to an account and search the site, visit: http://roi.aib.gov.uk/ROI
Companies HouseCompanies House can be used as a potential source of information to find property owners who are linked to a business.
The main functions of Companies House are to:
nn incorporate and dissolve limited companies
nn examine and store company information delivered under the Companies Act and related legislation
nn make this information available to the public.
Companies House provides information at varying prices (some of it free) about companies’ directors, accounts, mortgages etc. To see what types of information are available and at what prices, see:
www.companieshouse.gov.uk/toolsToHelp/findCompanyInfo.shtml
photography: Shelter
Photograp
hy by Scottish E
mpty H
omes P
artnership
16shelter.org.uk Scottish Empty Homes Partnership – 2012 update
Further informationIf you would like to discuss information gathering, please get in touch with the Empty Homes Coordinator.
ContactKristen Hubert Empty Homes Coordinator Shelter Scotland
0344 515 [email protected]
ConclusionThis guide contains ideas about how to compile your own database of empty homes and point you in the direction of some sources of information to investigate. While some of this work is relatively new in Scotland, it is useful to draw on the experience of others who have tested the waters already.
Next stepsOnce you have compiled your database and are having it regularly updated, you will want to interrogate and analyse the data it holds.
For ideas about how to use this data to prioritise empty homes for action in your area, please read the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership’s guide to developing a private sector empty homes action plan and our quick reference guide to prioritisation.
Photography: Shelter
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