Watering down Empty Dwelling Management Orders "unnecessary", says CIEH

14 January 2011

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has expressed concern about changes being introduced by the government to dilute the powers of Councils to take over empty and neglected properties.

The Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO) was introduced as part of the 2004 Housing Act, and was intended to tackle the large number of long-term empty homes in the UK.

The use of these powers by a Council to make sure a home is occupied follows attempts to persuade the owner to do so voluntarily. Any Council wanting to use the powers has to go to a Residential Property Tribunal where the owner can also make representation.

Commenting, Stephen Battersby, CIEH president, said:

"The CIEH is concerned that that the government's actions are unnecessary – EDMOs play an important role in bringing some empty and neglected homes back into use and in doing so helping to alleviate the housing shortage.

"What is more they provide leverage in negotiations when trying to persuade an owner to bring a home back into use. There have been relatively few EDMOs and so persuasion is the preferred approach by local authorities.

"The 2004 Housing Act has enough safeguards to protect homeowners. There are exceptions set out in the regulations where an EDMO cannot be used so as to safeguard owners and there are clear criteria in place to before a Council is granted an order.

"The CIEH is also concerned at the language being used by Ministers to justify the reasons for changing the legislation, singling out individual cases is not the basis for changing the law. The rhetoric does no service to those local authorities trying to secure the best use of an important national resource at a time when there is increasing need for housing.

"It has been quoted that the changes are about protecting civil liberties, but Parliament would not have approved the existing legislation if it breached human rights – and what about the human rights of those without a home?

"There are 652,000 empty homes in England alone and this is far too many - combine this with the decrease in house building it seems silly to be watering down a piece of legislation that is based on sound intentions. No one is questioning the right of people to own property."

"Apart from being a waste of a valuable national resource – empty homes blight neighbourhoods and can attract anti-social behaviour.

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