The Local Government Authority (LGA) has recently announced that by 2010, five million people will be on council and housing association waiting lists.

The Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors (RICS) has commented on these figures, saying that if these predictions are to be avoided, then action needs to be taken to put the estimated 663,000 empty homes in England back into use. RICS identifies these homes as ‘an enormous wasted asset’, especially in light of recent announcements from the house building industry which said that they are planning to build a reduced number of houses this year.

RICS has identified the use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMO) as an important part of the process towards reoccupying those empty homes. An EDMO allows a local council to apply to manage a property if it has been uninhabited for six months, with the owner unlikely to return. If the Residential Property Tribunal Service approves the application then the council can rent the property once it is up to a liveable standard. The costs of any repairs are taken out of the rent by the council, but the remainder of the rent goes to the owner.

James Rowland, policy officer for RICS, told PIN: “Local authorities have been reluctant to use EDMOs due to the complexity of the process. There needs to be more clarity in the process both for the local authority and for the landlords, so that they understand that their property is not going to be taken from them.”