Standards | LG Inform Plus

Help text: The total number of vacant dwellings in the area is estimated calculated from the Council Tax Base (CTB) collection. They include all empty properties liable for council tax and properties that are empty but receive a council tax exemption.

Vacant dwellings include dwellings that are empty between changing occupants or undergoing modernisation, repair or conversion, or awaiting demolition, or repossessed, waiting probate; or newly completed but not occupied, owned by a charity, unoccupied annexes, or when the trustee is in bankruptcy.

Any group of bedsits is counted as one dwelling - these are only counted as vacant when all are vacant.

Exclusions apply to second homes, holiday lets, and flats and houses normally occupied by students; when the owner is in prison, receiving or giving care, in the armed or visiting forces; or if the dwelling is flood damaged or awaiting clergy.

Data for council tax base purposes are not taken on the same date every year and can vary slightly from year to year. It now has to be taken on the first Monday in October and this is consistent each year.

Up until April 2013 dwellings undergoing major structural repairs for up to 12 months and those vacant for less than 6 months were eligible for a council tax exemption (Class A and C respectively). In April 2013 these exemptions were replaced with a new flexible discount which applied to all empty properties.

Total number of vacant dwellings in the area is found in the following lists

Total number of vacant dwellings in the area applies to

Total number of vacant dwellings in the area has subjects

Metric types list