PENDLE MP Gordon Prentice today welcomed a government move to give local authorities the power to charge landlords of empty properties 50 per cent of the council tax from April.

He believes this could lead to hundreds of empty properties being put back into use.

The Labour backbencher, who addressed a meeting of the East Lancashire Association of Landlords last week, said there should be a penalty for allowing property to remain unoccupied.

He has discovered that in his own Pendle constituency there are 63 empty council homes, 1.5 per cent of the total stock, 31 empty homes owned by housing association landlords (3.1 per cent of the stock), but 930 private sector properties without occupants - 4.5 per cent of the stock.

In Burnley the figures are 368 council homes (6.6 per cent), 131 housing association homes (8.6 per cent) and 2,559 private properties (7.7 per cent).

In Hyndburn there are 128 council houses without occupants (3.3 per cent), 58 housing association homes (4.7 per cent) and 1,960 private sector homes (6.6 per cent).

In Blackburn with Darwen there are 1,085 empty council properties (9.8 per cent of the stock), 200 housing association vacancies (6.9 per cent) and 2,987 private sector homes unoccupied (6.8 per cent).

In general these figures are above the national average of 2.5 per cent of council properties empty, 2.8 per cent of social landlord properties empty and 3.8 per cent of private properties unoccupied.

Mr Prentice said: "There may be very good reasons why a property is unoccupied and the law currently recognises these. For example, a house could be empty because it is being extensively renovated, but too many empty homes here in Pendle and East Lancashire are left empty and are allowed to decay because there is no financial penalty for leaving them unoccupied.

"These houses are a blot on the landscape and can blight whole neighbourhoods. That has got to change."

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