Blast for council on empty homes

MORE than 4,000 ghost houses are being left to rot by private landlords across Oldham, but the council is not using powers to bring them back into use.

Empty dwelling management orders (EDMOs) are designed to kick out a landlord refusing to co-operate with attempts to bring a property back into use.

Across the country, only 27 properties have been refurbished in this way, but none of them by Oldham Council according to Government information.

Latest figures show there are about 4,400 privately-owned empty homes across the borough.

EDMOs, introduced in 2006, give a council temporary management rights over homes at risk of falling prey to squatters, drug-dealers and fly-tippers — allowing a house to revert to its original owner at a later date.

Across the UK, the number of empty homes has hit one million, a figure which charities for the homeless have described as shocking.

Kay Boycott, Shelter’s director of policy, said: “More money needs to be made available to give local authorities the manpower to make contact with the owners of empty properties, to start getting these homes back into use.

“They have the legal powers to bring long-term empty homes back into use, but don’t have the resources to enforce these powers.”

The Tories have pledged to scrap EDMOs. Housing spokesman Grant Shapps said: “Labour announces these schemes with a fanfare and they turn out to be damp squibs.”

But Communities Minister Ian Austin insisted the scheme was beginning to work well, adding: “We always intended the legislation to be used only as a last resort.”

The only councils to have used EDMOs are Bolton, Carlisle, Bromley, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow, Lewisham, New Forest, Norwich,

Peterborough, South Norfolk, Southend-on-Sea, South Oxfordshire, South Tyneside, Swale and Wychavon.

The Evening Chronicle contacted the council but it was unable to provide a comment.