Annual Impact Report 2024

Allana McLuskey, More Homes Officer at Renfrewshire Council shares her experience of using LoCTA in her work.

I became aware of a 1 bedroom flat that was empty via our council tax records. The property was one of four in a block where Renfrewshire Council owned the others. Further investigations revealed that it had been empty for over 10 years with council tax debt accruing yearly.

The previous Empty Home Officer had tried to engage with the owner but with no success as they had a name but no contact details or current address. Following the session on the LoCTA hub, I used this tool to try and locate the owner. This showed that were no known records of them, indicating that they had left the country. However, through carrying out a title check, I found that the property had been purchased within the last year and obtained the new owner’s name. I was able to get their contact details using one of LoCTA’s search function.

When I contacted the new owner, she advised that she had bought the property blind and regretted it as she was not from the area. Through this conversation I was able to discuss the council’s buy back scheme. This led to the council purchasing the property which the new owner was thrilled about.

The local authority now have additional stock in a high demand area and have full ownership of the block. This means we can proceed with external works required without any objections, reducing risk of serious disrepair issues as had previously been the case.