1,616 vacant Haringey homes declared a ‘scandal’

New data shows that Haringey Council received a peak of £452,907 in council tax payments against empty private properties in 2021/22, reports Miriam Balanescu

New data has revealed that thousands of properties are currently vacant in Haringey.

Data shared with HCP in response to a request under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act shows that as of May 2023 there are 1,616 vacant Haringey homes – comprising 1,588 privately owned and 28 council-owned properties.

20 privately owned properties have been vacant for anywhere between eleven and 19 years. Three privately owned properties have been vacant for 20 or more years.

164 privately owned properties have been vacant for less than one year, 872 for one year, 263 for two years, 112 for three years, and 32 for four years. 30 have been vacant for seven years.

For the year 2023/24, Haringey Council has already received £16,843 in council tax payments against vacant properties, with a peak of £452,907 for the year 2021/22. Landlords pay double the amount of council tax after a property has been empty for two years, three times the amount after five years, and five times the amount after ten years.

The data shows a massive increase in net council tax payments against vacant properties from 2016/17 (aside from a slight decrease last year), when the total was £79,713. The biggest increase in payments was between 2019/20 and 2020/21, with a jump of 145%.

Meanwhile, three council-owned properties have been vacant for less than a year, 13 for one year, six for two years, four for three years, and one for four years. One council property has also been vacant for seven years.

Demand for social housing in Haringey continues to be high, with the council reporting that roughly 10,000 households are waiting for secure housing, while 90% of those on the housing register “will never be housed in social rented accommodation”.

Properties being left vacant is a London-wide issue, with figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government released this April estimating that 34,327 properties in total are “long-term vacant” – meaning they have been empty for more than six months and are “substantially unfurnished”.

The data indicated that Southwark is the London borough with the highest number of vacant properties at an estimated 2,422, while Haringey ranked ninth out of 32 boroughs – vacant Haringey homes making up roughly 5% of the total figure of 34,327. The figures also reveal that London has reached its highest level of empty properties since 2010.

Sarah Williams, cabinet member for housing services, private renters and planning, said of vacant Haringey homes: “Tackling housing shortages is a top priority in Haringey. Our ambitious house building programme aims to deliver 3,000 high quality, sustainable and genuinely affordable council homes by 2031. We also want to see existing properties in the private sector being used, not left empty, as part of our commitment to building a fairer borough.

“That’s why we work with property owners to give them all the support they need to bring much needed homes back into use. Where
landlords won’t engage with us, we act, including using compulsory purchase orders and enforced sale powers, as well as doubling the council tax payable on long-term empty properties.

“When it comes to the council’s own properties, we know we must do more to tackle the high number of void properties. We have invested £2.7million in our repairs service which includes increasing our capacity to improve turnaround times as part of our housing improvement plan. This will enable us in the long term to reduce the overall number of void properties that we have.”

Catherine West MP said: “It’s a scandal that homes are lying empty when we have the highest-ever number of homeless families in temporary accommodation across London. The Tories have failed to tackle the housing crisis that is leaving thousands of people in Haringey struggling in overcrowded homes or pushed out of the borough by extortionate rents. Councils need more powers to crack down on the scandal of empty homes, but more than that we need a Labour government that prioritises building the genuinely affordable housing our community needs – not luxury flats for wealthy investors that nobody lives in.”

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