An investigation by Sky News and a housing campaigner have revealed that there are some 33,993 vacant council properties in England alone, the highest number since 2009.

They include several residences that have been sealed off on an estate in Lambeth, south London, for more than two decades and 144 flats in a boarded-up tower block in the bordering borough of Southwark that has been empty since 2015. 

Kwajo Tweneboa, the campaigner working with Sky, has tweeted the top 10 councils that have the most empty publicly-owned homes. Landlord Today has identified the political parties that control the councils in question.

Melton - 1,810; (Independent and Labour coalition)

Southwark - 1,588; (Labour)

Ealing - 1,183; (Labour)

Sheffield - 946; (Labour largest party, no overall majority)

Lambeth - 726; (Labour)

Newham - 688; (Labour)

Gateshead - 618; (Labour)

Leeds - 589; (Labour)

Southampton - 577; (Labour)

Nottingham - 511. (Labour)

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, tweeted in response: “Appalling. And to think these local authorities are in charge of regulating private rented homes when they literally cannot get their own houses in order.”