Annual Report
Long Term Empty Homes in Scotland 2021
Figures published by the Scottish Government in December showed that the number of homes empty for six months or longer had fallen by 7.5% from 47,333 in 2020 to 43,766. 5 However, this was still 6.5% higher than the 40,963 long term empty homes in 2019. 5 https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-empty-properties-and-second-homes/
[…]What the figures tell us
It was encouraging to see that the largest share in the fall came amongst homes that had been empty for 12 months or longer. This suggests that many of the homes that became or remained long term empty as renovation work was put on hold, rental properties stood vacant, people put off house moves and…
[…]Case Study – Pauline’s Story – The impact of empty homes on communities
Below is a clip from Pauline’s story. In it she talks about the impact on her mental health of living next door to an empty property for over 2 decades. The issues ranged from water ingress to her own property, to overgrown foliage extending into her garden. Pauline told SEHAS “I can’t take much more;…
[…]Case Study – An empty home that is causing distress in an area where there is no EHO
The Scottish Empty Homes Advice Service (SEHAS) was contacted by a neighbour who had moved into a first-floor flat in 2019, where the home directly below her was empty. At this stage there was no immediate visible signs or issues with the empty property. It should be noted that this flat is in a local…
[…]Bringing homes back into use
This year EHOs recorded 1152 properties brought back into use. Information on how long the home was empty for was available for 69% of these properties. Almost 50% had been empty for between 2 and 5 years and a further 19% had been empty for more than 5 years (including 43 properties that had been…
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