Power used to pave the way for affordable homes
A derelict Plymouth property that had been empty for 20 years is to be demolished to pave the way for new homes to be built as part of the large-scale regeneration of North Prospect.
Plymouth City Council used special legal powers to force the sale of the house – 18 Ash Grove – after both the Council and Plymouth Community Homes were unable to trace the owner in order to negotiate buying the property from them.
The Council’s Housing Delivery Team has a procedure in place to recover debts owed to the Council by empty home owners. It can use powers under the 1925 Law of Property Act, which enables the Council to recover debts and bring the property to the market.
Exhaustive investigations to find the owner had proved unsuccessful. There were outstanding debts owed to the Council and so it was able to enforce the sale of the property. It was then purchased by Plymouth Community Homes to enable the regeneration of North Prospect to continue.
Since 2010 Plymouth Community Homes has rehoused 296 of its tenants and purchased 84 homes in North Prospect in order to assist the regeneration of the neighbourhood.
Councillor Mark Lowry, whose portfolio includes housing delivery said: “This legal action and subsequent sale of an abandoned property paves the way for more vitally needed homes to be built.”
“Here in Plymouth we are saying yes to homes and we are committed to building more homes. Sometimes our role is not an obvious one – but work like this by our Housing Delivery team has solved a significant problem for PCH.”
Michael Knowles, Plymouth Community Homes Director of Development, hailed Plymouth City Council’s action to enforce the sale of a house as “an excellent example of partnership working.”
The Council has currently earmarked a number of properties for enforced sale action where the owners have steadfastly refused to do anything to bring their empty properties back to use.
The property was registered in the name of someone who was not the purchaser. The registered owner is the legal owner, but as she was unable to be traced, PCH could not negotiate a purchase and move forward with the demolition process.
