Anger over home left empty for 18 months

10:25am Friday 8th August 2008

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A Grade II listed family house owned by a council has been left empty for 18 months.

The property in Kensington Place, North Laine, Brighton, has remained uninhabited since its tenant died in February 2007.

Brighton and Hove City Council came under criticism yesterday for failing to let the home while 8,000 people are on the housing waiting list.

A council spokesman said it was uneconomical for it to repair the dilapidated property and it was looking for “alternative investment options”.

Nearby properties have fetched in excess of £500,000 in recent months.

Ian Davey, a Green councillor for North Laine, said: “Empty homes represent waste, financial expense and missed opportunity.

“The property at 50 Kensington Place sits as a terrible indictment of the council’s failure to make the best use of its own housing stock. The country is in the midst of a housing crisis, with demand far outstripping supply but here in Brighton and Hove there are homes sitting empty.

“The Tories promised to speed up the letting of empty properties as one of their housing priorities, but Kensington Place has been empty for almost exactly the same length of time as the Tories have been running the council.

“Housing is now one of the single biggest drivers of inequality in Britain, opening up an unprecedented social divide.

“Allowing a home like this to lie empty for so long is an insult to the city’s homeless and poorly housed people.”

The council spokesman added: “The property was returned to us in May 2007.

“It had been occupied by the same tenant for a very long time and was in a serious state of disrepair.

“The dilapidation is so serious that in purely financial terms it’s not currently economic to repair.

“We are investigating alternative investment options for this house as part of our long-term strategy to manage our various assets.

“This house is problematic but we generally have a great record on empty homes and have even bought over 400 privately owned empty homes back into use in the last few years.”