Aberdeen City Council have brought a total of 269 private empty properties back into use, either through matching people on the council waiting list or through a specialist service helping homeless people.

The members of the council's operational delivery committee praised the work which has been carried out by the service which was part of an update on its Empty Home Policy at a meeting yesterday.

Aberdeen City Council Sandra Macdonald said: "It is good to hear from officers that once again our services are ready for the oncoming winter. We know that our staff cannot be everywhere at once but they do go above and beyond to ensure the city's key roads and pavements are kept gritted according to an agreed prioritised plan.

"We all hope that the oncoming winter will be a moderate one however it is reassuring to know that we are prepared and if there are adverse weather conditions we also have members of the public willing to help others by spreading salt on the areas which are not at the highest priority."

A report to committee said the Aberdeen City Empty Homes Policy sets out the detail on how the council will work with owners to help them to bring privately owned empty residential properties back into use.

The aims of the policy are to work with owners of empty homes to bring them back into residential use, work with owners of empty homes to match existing housing supply with housing demand in the city through the Matchmake to Rent and Matchmake to Sell schemes, ensure there is a coordinated approach between council services to tackle empty homes, and continue to raise awareness of issues relating to empty homes in Aberdeen.

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An Empty Homes Officer was recruited on a two-year temporary basis in October 2018 to reflect the changing requirements of empty homes across the city and to ensure empty homes are brought back into use. The post was initially funded on a 50:50 basis with kick-starter funding from the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership. In October 2020, City Growth & Resource Committee agreed to fund the Empty Homes Officer post on a permanent basis using Council Tax Second Homes funds.

The report said bringing empty homes back into use represents an important and progressive amount of work as of January 2021, there were about 2,500 privately owned properties that have been empty for 12 months or more across the city.

The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership estimates that the cost of a new build property far outweighs the cost of refurbishing an empty home as the infrastructure and local services are already in place when bringing an empty home back into use.

A long-term empty home is defined as being unoccupied for 12 months or more and liable for Council Tax.

The report said priority properties are those that have generated a complaint and have a negative impact on the neighbourhood, properties which have been empty for two years or more which are subject to the 100% Council Tax levy and are in Council Tax arrears, properties that have been empty for two years or more and are subject to the 100% council tax levy, properties that are subject to enforcement action from any council service, properties which are in the city centre.

The report said In situations where there has been repeated and unsuccessful attempts of engagement with an owner and the condition of the property continues to deteriorate to an unacceptable extent and adversely impact the community within that area, exercising compulsory purchase order powers as a last resort will allow the council to bring an empty property back into productive use.

Compulsory purchase orders will only be used in such cases where the public benefits which will be achieved outweigh the private interests of the owner who has abandoned the property and has shown no indication that they intend responsibility for it. Compulsory purchase orders will be used in accordance with procedures.