South Oxfordshire, the first authority in England to have an Interim EDMO approved, has reportedly turned its back on the measure because of the costs involved. According to a BBC story local parish councillor Chrissie Phillips-Tilbury urged the Council to bring more empty homes back into use. But the Council's website states "the council does not have sufficient resource and cannot justify the financial cost of trying to enact EDMOs". The BBC report goes on to report the Coucncil as saying
"From our experience an EDMO can take up to two years to put in place even with the co-operation of the legal owner and with legal costs in excess of £10,000 (for a single property), even before any remedial works have been undertaken, the council does not believe this would be a proper use of public funds."
South Oxfordshire have certainly painted a bleak picture, but their claims will not resonate with those authorities such as Lewisham or Bromley that have pursued EDMOs more systematically and where legal costs are thought to be very significantly lower. Nor does South Oxfordshire seem to have taken into account the New Homes Bonus, which could easily recoup the Council most of its claimed £10,000 anyway. And it is disingenuous for the Council to refer to the remedial works as the cost of these can be recovered from the rental stream when the property is let.
Nevertheless, it is a sad commentary on the indadequacies of the EDMO legislation that owners benefit from EDMOs, through the property being brought back into use (providing financial gains to the owner) whilst the local community has to pick up the tab. The Empty Homes Network has argued for the reasonable costs of pursuing the enforcement action to be charged back to the owner as with other Housing Act powers. We'll continue to make that case.