Empty homes 'should be used for affordable housing' - buy to let mortgages

17 February 2009

The UK's large amount of unoccupied properties offers an opportunity for the provision of affordable housing, it has been claimed.

Henry Oliver, a policy advisor at the Empty Homes Agency, said that more use should be made of houses that are currently vacant.

They offer "the quickest, easiest and best" method of providing affordable accommodation, he stated, noting that there are "many" ways that they can be brought back into use.

Mr Oliver remarked: "Empty homes are a cost all the time," calling upon the government and developers to take action on the subject.

Holders of buy to let mortgages may wish to take his comments into account, particularly if they presently have properties standing empty.

Figures recently released by the government revealed that the level of unoccupied homes in England rose from 672,000 in 2007 to 697,000 in 2008.

This represented the largest increase for 17 years and the report showed that 613,270 of the empty properties were privately owned.