Consultation On The Proposed Community Empowerment - Scottish ...

5.65 It was also suggested that the cost of bringing back into use should be
reasonable; and that:
“the owner should be entitled to the market value for the
property (less any costs met by the council in enforcing the
sale and in undertaking necessary building work to allow the
property to be sold).”
(Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations)
5.66 Generally, respondents made similar suggestions regarding the
circumstances in which local authorities should be able to enforce a lease of
an empty home. However, a number of local authorities identified some
important differences:
“It is expected that the local authority would prefer the option
of outright sale. However, in circumstances where there may
be future plans to redevelop an area, short-term leases may
be an option to help address short-term housing shortages.
Of course the cost of bringing these homes up to habitable
standard may outweigh any short-term benefits from bringing
them back into use. There are complicated issues around
leasing such as maintenance, management and rent
collection which would need to be considered.”
(Aberdeenshire Council and Aberdeenshire Community Planning
Partnership)
“There may be some circumstances where this may be
appropriate, such as where the property is in a high demand
area, but the Council would need to ensure that any money it
invested in a property that it did not own to bring it up to a
lettable standard can be recovered through the rental income
for the property. In other words, the Council should not be
increasing the value of an asset that it does not own without
a mechanism for recovering its expenditure.”
(North Lanarkshire Council)
5.67 The consultation asked if a local authority should be required to apply to the
courts for an order to sell or lease a home. Again the overall response rate
was quite low. More agreed with the proposal than disagreed, but with
community and third sector representatives tending to agree and other groups
having more mixed views.
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