Owners of empty houses in Edinburgh will be forced to either occupy their property or sell it as the City Council takes a more hands-on approach to tackle the city’s housing crisis. The council will use Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) to ensure that property which is not being used can get back on the market.

An empty house would be defined as a property that has been left unoccupied for a matter of months. Edinburgh is home to over 5,000 homes that have been vacant for more than six months, as well as 1,267 that have been empty for more than a year. Currently, officers are looking at a case file of 34 houses which fall under this category.

Resident’s told the council’s Housing and Economy committee that the empty houses negatively impacted on their neighbourhood, not only with the house itself becoming destitute with broken windows and overgrown gardens, but also inviting crime and anti-social behaviour from people who want to break in.

While politicians are united on the issue, Conservatives are wary about the cost of this new direction, as well as how much profit the council could see out of reselling the properties once they are fixed up and made fit for purchase.

Conservative Economy spokesman Councillor John McLellan said “Compulsory Purchase Orders are not necessarily a silver bullet. In those circumstances, a CPO would still mean the council would have to pay the market price for that home.

“That home, even in its dilapidated state, is still going to rake up £350,000 to £400,000 – which the council would have to pay.”

The Greens, meanwhile, think it is about time that this issue was solved by the council, pointing to the examples of Stirling and Glasgow where the reclaiming and reuse of unused houses acted as a part of the cities’ regeneration policies.

Housing spokesman for the Greens Councillor, Susan Rae, said: “The council’s willingness to look at compulsory purchase powers for long term empties where the owner is simply not engaging is welcome and overdue.

“In a city with such acute housing shortages and with such pressure on our precious green spaces, the blight of empty homes must end.”

Each CPO functions on a case-by-case basis, and the council must get approval from Scottish Ministers and the full council in order to carry out the purchase.

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