Owners of long-term empty homes in Peterborough are being urged to sign up to a community scheme to bring vacant houses back into use.

Peterborough City Council is working with Cross Keys Homes and the Homes and Communities Agency to help owners of empty homes improve their property, generate income and return it to use. The scheme is being funded by the Homes and Communities Agency and Cross Keys Homes.

The partnership will help owners identify the best way to return a property to use and make the most of it financially. This includes:

•A contribution of up to £10,000 towards the refurbishment of the property which is repayable through the rent over the lease period

•Having their property brought up to the decent homes standard, without the responsibility for ensuring the works are carried out

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•A guaranteed rental income over a lease period, without having to worry about management responsibilities

In Peterborough, there are around 480 empty homes. Empty properties deteriorate quickly and become targets for vandals and crime. Ensuring against such actions can be problematic and expensive. Excluding the cost of vandalism, keeping a home empty could be costing a landlord as much as £135 a week (that’s £7,018 each year).

Councillor Peter Hiller, Cabinet Member for Housing, Neighbourhoods and Planning, said: "We have an excellent track record for bringing empty homes back into use so we welcome this new scheme. Targeting empty homes benefits the people who live nearby, the property owners and people looking for accommodation. This scheme will also benefit the council and ultimately council taxpayers as we will receive £7,000 from the Government for every unoccupied property that we bring back into use.

"Often a long-term unoccupied house or flat blights a street and its neighbouring homes by attracting vandalism, casual crime and sometimes drug and alcohol abusers. The buildings fall into disrepair by not being lived-in, and the job of reinstatement becomes far more difficult and expensive.

"I urge the owners of these houses to talk to us sooner rather than later. Anyone interested should get in touch as soon as possible - there is a limit to the number of properties we can enter into the scheme and it’s an opportunity too good to miss."

(CD)