A website designed to reduce the number of empty properties in Hammersmith and Fulham is appealing to people and organisations with vacant property on their hands to get in touch.
Empro.co.uk was launched by the Housing Minister Keith Hill earlier this year, and is being piloted in Hammersmith & Fulham. The site is recording impressive early interest and properties are already being successfully brought back into use. To ensure that there is a ready supply of potential properties to acquire or invest in, with over 3,700 people already having registered to use the service, Empro.co.uk and Hammersmith & Fulham Council are looking for more empty properties to post on the site.
The aim of the website is to bring together prospective landlords and developers with long-term empty properties with the goal of bringing dormant property back into use.
Paul Emptage, Empty Property manager for Hammersmith & Fulham Council, said: “There are over 3,000 empty properties at any one time in the Borough, and if we can put more of these on the website it can help bring them back into use. The Government’s recent legislation to establish Empty Homes Management Orders will mean that owners need to think carefully about properties they own that have been empty for over six months.”
There is no charge involved to the home owner of adding properties to the website, and with the potential benefit of grant assistance and specialist advice from the Council, potential purchasers are lining up to identify potential opportunities. Anyone interested in finding out more about adding details of their property to Empro.co.uk can contact Paul Emptage at Hammersmith & Fulham Council on 020 8753 1473.
David Ireland is joint chair of the website’s steering committee. He said: “There are many reasons why properties become vacant. One individual whose property was recorded on the website had spent years renovating a property to a high standard, but wasn’t sure what to do with it in a rapidly changing housing market.”
“The property was advertised on Empro.co.uk and received phenomenal interest, with the high demand taking the owner by surprise. The owner decided to let the property for the time being, but says he would definitely market property through the website again”
January 23, 2005
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