Bournemouth to beef up empty homes work with new Empty Homes Officer

Bournemouth Borough Council are upping their efforts to deal with empty homes with the appointment of a full-time Empty Homes Officer. The existing Empty Homes Strategy covered the years 2009-2012 and relied on a partnership with Bournemouth's four development partners for funding. That funding dried up and there has been no empty homes officer in post since 2011. Nicky Thomas, Housing Manager (Private Sector Housing and Adaptations) said: We’re really in need of some proactive work, particularly to take more robust action with the worst properties. Following a very detailed business case to the members, which noted the advantages for maximising New Homes Bonus, we've secured funding for an initial three year contract for a full time post to review and develop the options we have for empty home owners, to follow the example of good practice in other authorities, to take more robust enforcement action, including CPOs, and to work with our legal team to take enforced sale action and son on.. We have a good working relationship with our CT people and the aim is to contact owners proactively with info about options, follwoing this up with hand holding, encouragement, and enforcement only where necessary. This is the dream: I want to make it the reality. Once we have someone in post they’ll be seeking lots of advice! The job advertisement is published on our site here.