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Easter bin collections

All bin collections following a bank holiday will now take place one day late from 29 March to 6 April. See our Easter Bin Collection page for further details.

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What is an empty home?

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7. Empty Dwelling Management Orders

Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) enable us to take control of and manage a residential property that has been empty for over 6 months and where the following apply:

  • all attempts to contact the owner or negotiations to bring the property back into use have failed
  • the dwelling has been unoccupied for at least 2 years
  • there is no prospect of the dwelling becoming occupied in the near future
  • there is a reasonable prospect that the dwelling will become occupied if an EDMO is made
  • we have complied with our duties in seeking an EDMO, including ensuring that the dwelling is not subject to an exemption under the regulations

The Iiterim EDMO

If the owner has refused all requests to bring the dwelling back into use or work with us to sell or rent, we will seek approval from the Residential Property Tribunal Service for an interim EDMO. This means that we will take control of the property but may not tenant the property without the owners permission. If at this stage the owner still refuses to co-operate in bringing the property back into use, we will apply for a final EDMO.

The final EDMO

The final EDMO does not require the approval of the Residential Property Tribunal.

Once in force, the final EDMO lasts for a fixed period of no more than 7 years. However, the period can be repeated if costs are still outstanding to us or it is believed that the property will not remain occupied if returned to the owner. With a final EDMO in place, we do not require the consent of the owner to grant occupation rights.

What happens to a property with a final EDMO?

All properties with a final EDMO will be brought up to the Decent Homes Standard (see Communities and Local Government (CLG)) and tenanted through our private sector leasing  scheme. The rent collected will be used to offset the costs incurred by us in bringing the property back into use. Any surpluses will be paid to the owner on expiry of the order.

All income and expenditure will be accounted for and facilities for inspecting accounts made available.