Bury Council has put aside £1m to acquire homes which have stood empty for more than six months and plans to convert them to affordable housing.

There are more than 1,000 properties in the borough which have stood empty for more than six months and 500 of those have been vacant for more than two years.

The £1m, taken from monies from developers who had previous projects approved in Bury, has been ring-fenced for the purpose of acquiring empty properties.

At a cabinet meeting, council leader Eamonn O-Brien also said that the authority took the matter so seriously that a levy of council super-tax, four times the existing bills could be imposed on errant landlords.

He said: “This is another weapon in our arsenal in tackling the amount of empty properties in Bury.

“A quite sharp edge to this is that some long term empty properties can be subject to 400 per cent council tax.

“This sounds harsh but it is a clear show of our commitment.

“There is a cost to these empty homes so where we can we want to bring them back to use.

“If the public have any problem sites in their area please bring them to our attention.”

The council tax premium in Bury for empty properties used to be an additional 50 per cent, on top of the appropriate council tax levy.

In November 2018, the Local Government Finance Act allowed for councils to further increase this charge.

Bury Council then increased the premium to 100 per cent for homes left vacant for two years.

For which had been vacant for five years or more, the premium was upped to 200 per cent, from the start of April 2020.

Properties left empty for 10 years or more will now face a triple amount charge on top of the standard council tax bill.

Cllr Clare Cummins introduced the plans to cabinet members.

She said “Bringing empty properties back into use for affordable housing is a good and fitting way to spend this money.

“The council will acquire empty homes across the borough and return them back into use for affordable housing.”

The report to cabinet stated: “Sums have previously been allocated in this way.

“In 2016, £617,000 was allocated and 10 properties across the borough have been brought back into use as affordable housing.

“There is approximately £172,000 from the original allocation, however these funds are earmarked for a further three properties.

“Any homes acquired by the council will be managed through Six Town Housing and rent will be paid into the housing revenue account.

“At present, the council has not identified the specific properties it will target as it is in the early stages of engaging with empty property owners across the
borough.

“However, based on the previous project that returned 10 empties back into use across the borough, it is anticipated that funding will allow for the acquisition of 20 empty properties which equates to a spend of £50,000 per property.”