Hillingdon Council plans to launch its Housing Buy Back Scheme on Saturday, 4 November, at 10 a.m. in the main reception of the Civic Centre, Uxbridge.
With housing provision at a premium across the city, the council is looking for innovative ways to bolster its housing stock, and through this new scheme, it will offer market value for any vacant homes.
Those properties may have become vacant due to the owner passing away, in which case the council would offer to buy the property outright.
In some instances where a home may become unoccupied in the longer term, for whatever reason, the council will offer a competitive leasing agreement, with the home being returned afterwards.
Leased homes will be fully managed by the council, which will deal with all/any repairs and, in some cases, may invest in refurbishments too, so properties are likely to be returned in the same condition, or better, at the end of the lease period.
At November’s open day, residents, landlords and family members of residents are invited to come along, meet the team behind the project, find out more details and ask any questions.
Cllr Eddie Lavery, cabinet member for Residents’ Services, said: “We’re determined to create a borough with safe, strong communities where residents have access to good homes.
“There’s currently a desperately acute need for housing across London, and local authorities are being forced to think outside the box for ways to create new housing stock. Our ongoing homes extension programme is one example of how where we’ve had to be creative to increase the number of larger homes we can make available to our residents.
“Now, we also have our Housing Buy-back Scheme, offering market value for properties that would otherwise lay vacant, which helps no one, or they might be on the market for an unknown length of time. We’ll cut out the red tape and estate agents with a dedicated team that will work quickly to get these vital homes back into use for families in genuine need.”
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