Half of households on Council waiting lists in Kent & Medway could be housed in long term empty properties.

The number of people on Kent & Medway Council’s housing registers stood at 15,592, as of March 2023 (latest data available). In Oct 2023, the number of long term empty properties in Kent & Medway stood at 7,847. Half of those households on the Council’s waiting lists could have been housed in the long term empty properties if they would have been brought back into use.

The number of long term empty properties in Kent & Medway is rising again, and as of Oct 2024 stood at 8,452 long term empty properties. The trend as the data shows has been upwards, for the last three years. This is serious concern, especially when we are in the middle of a Housing Crisis.

To understand the data it is better to look at it over a period of time. The last ten years shows the trend of long term empty properties is increasing.

Kent County Council’s Statistical Bulletin October 2024, produced by Kent Analytics estimates there were 708,630 homes in Kent as of March 2023. So at that date, we can estimate that 1.3% of all properties were long term empty properties in Kent & Medway.

Six of the thirteen districts saw a fall in the number of long term empty properties between 2023 and 2024.

For those who own these empty properties, Council tax is payable, and each local authority charges a premium for owners who leave a property empty for more than a year, which acts as an incentive to bring it back into use.

The rules for leaving homes empty means owners must pay double tax on premises empty for more than a year; treble tax on premises empty more than five years, and quadruple tax on premises left empty more than 10 years or more. Now of course the data doesn’t inform the public how long each of the 8,452 properties has been empty, so there’s no way of knowing which empty properties are paying what amount of tax.

Of course there are legitimate reasons why a home may be left empty.

Probate process is a lengthy one on some occasions. Owners running out of money while renovating. Subject of a legal dispute, eg fraud, bankruptcy, divorce, etc. Owner moved into a care home or hospital, but property kept in the hope they might be well enough to return.

The numbers of owners who might be subject to any of the reasons above, is not known, but given half of those on the Councils waiting lists could have been housed in 2023, shows more must be done. However, since all Kent Councils are tied up with devolution, it’s almost a certainty little to nothing will be done to avert the rising trend in long term empty properties in Kent & Medway. Meanwhile there are more than 15,000 Kent & Medway households wishing they had a home, while waiting to be housed, as 8,452 homes sit empty.

The Shepway Vox Team

Not owned by Hedge funds or Barons