Private properties are standing empty for up to 17 years.

The revelation comes at a time when more than 11,000 people in Brighton and Hove are on the housing register.

It also follows claims it is costing Brighton and Hove City Council about £1.6 million a year to keep its 113 empty properties under local authority ownership.

One council property in Newhaven Street, Brighton has been empty since February 2009.

According to estimates, it costs £14,000 a year to keep properties empty.

This is made up of lost rent (about £3,640), 50% of the total council tax (£700), and the cost of putting a family in temporary accommodation (housing benefit of about £190 a week).

A spokesman for the council confirmed the number of empty residential properties it owned amounted to less than 1% of its total stock.

He added the Newhaven Street property is being reassessed after it suffered flood damage from a bust cold water storage tank.

Meanwhile four properties are expected to be bought under compulsory purchase orders.

The plan is expected to be given the go-ahead at the council’s housing cabinet meeting next week.

It includes a property in Preston Park ward which is not registered with the land registry and has been empty since at least 1993.

Despite numerous letters to the private owners, the council officers have said this is the “only means of bringing them back into use”.

A spokesman for the council added: “We have a proactive approach to working with owners of empty properties to bring them back into use.

“However if the owner persistently fails to work with the council, the empty property officer will ultimately consider the use of enforcement action.”