Empty homes

A property that has been unoccupied for six months or more is classed as a long‑term empty home.

Empty homes can create safety, maintenance and neighbourhood problems. They can attract trespassers and vandalism, become a target for fly‑tipping and pests, and quickly fall into disrepair.

This not only increases costs for owners but can also have a negative impact on the surrounding area and nearby property values.

Report an empty home

If brought back into use empty homes can help to reduce the need for building on greenfield sites.

The Government has now placed a responsibility on local authorities to bring empty homes back into use.

However, we aware that there are many more empty homes in the district which we currently do not know about.

If you know of an empty property, please let us know.

Empty Dwelling Management Orders

We have powers to take over empty properties and let them out.

Our private sector housing team contacts the owners of empty properties and offers support to those wishing to bring their property back into use.

No Use Empty

Kent County Council runs a scheme called No Use Empty which helps to bring long-term empty properties back into use.

If you have been approved for a No Use Empty loan, we can provide an additional interest-free loan of up to £15,000 to supplement the KCC loan.

• Find out more about the empty property loan
• Find out more about the No Use Empty Scheme (opens in new tab)

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