Richmond council to buy dilapidated buildings in Richmond

Richmond Council has said they're buying empty or dilapidated homes in Richmond.

They said they also plan to purchase properties in Twickenham, Teddington and Richmond. 

It's all because of the Compulsory Purchase Order in the housing act. 

It's to stop the buildings becoming a target for vandalism and squatters.

Council officers attempted on a number of occasions to contact the owners of the properties to discover their intentions to bringing them back into use.

Information was provided on grants and loans in order to assist them in doing so and to avoid enforcement action, but no practical action has been forthcoming by the owners.

Cllr Nicola Urquhart, Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Housing said: "We've made every attempt to assist the owners of the properties in the hope they would bring these eyesore houses back into use."

"However, given the neglect by the current owners and their continued failure to produce proposals or to take action to renovate and return the houses to use, the case for the Compulsory Purchase Orders is strong." 

"It also has the advantage that if sold, the Council will be able to obtain a commitment from any new owner to restore a property for use as housing within a reasonable time-scale."

Richmond was previously successful in 2010 when Cabinet approved CPO action resulting in all four of the targeted properties being brought back into use without the need for the service of any CPOs. 

All the owners sold the properties following Cabinet approval to proceed with CPO action and subsequently improvement works were carried out by the new owners to restore the properties.