The Primary Purpose of the UK Housing Act 2004 - Research Paper Example

The Halifax Building Society released the results of a research October 2006 which reflected that at least 300,000 dwellings were empty in England. The research is based on data collected from the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Office of National Statistics and in-house data. The empty dwellings contained in the survey are only those dwellings that have been vacant for at least six consecutive months. Empty dwelling houses are problematic for a number of discernible reasons.

  This paper discusses the problems created by empty dwellings and how state and local government have met these challenges.  At this stage, it is necessary to examine the primary reasons that dwelling houses become and remain vacant.  A research survey conducted by MORI for the Government Office of East England reflects that the primary reason for vacant dwellings is attributed to reparations.  Thirty-seven percent of the survey participants claimed that the repairs and/or renovations were ongoing.

  Seventeen percent acknowledged that the vacant property needed repairs, nine percent claimed that they were planning to carry out repairs and another nine percent said that they could not afford the repairs. Another twenty-eight percent of the survey participants claimed that the properties were vacant because they planned to sell them. Other reasons were given for dispossession but to a lesser degree.  Eight percent said that they did not want to be bothered with tenants occupying the premises.

  Another seven percent claimed that they were keeping their options open.  Six percent said that they were trying to rent the property and another six percent claimed that they had purchased the property solely as an investment incentive. Four percent of the survey participants submitted that they dispossessed the property as a result of planning restrictions.  Three percent said that they owned a second home, another three percent said that they were merely waiting for the appropriate time to sell the property and another three percent claimed that they used the property for purposes other than accommodations.

  Two percent of the survey participants said that the property was tied up in legal disputes and another two percent claimed that the property lacked a usable entrance. In a report prepared by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council entitled Empty Properties Strategies it was reported that a number of variables contributed to properties obtaining vacant status.  The report acknowledged that it was quite understandable and reasonable for dwellings to remain unoccupied for a period of six months while it was under repairs of up for sale.

The problematic reasons were listed as vacancies as a result of “low demand for housing in the locality” lacking facilities, the undesirability of the property, its state of disrepair, not able to fund repairs, waiting for a market value to improve and lack of interest in the property. The remainder of this chapter examines vital statistics in relation to housing.  This exercise is entirely necessary in order to understand the substantive law and procedure devised by state and local government in their quest to solve the issues associated with vacant properties particularly, private dwellings.