FOI Request - Vacant Council and Private Properties

Request 101003309346

1) As of 3rd May 2023 (or the most recently available date), please could you tell me how many private and council homes have been vacant in your authority for the following numbers of financial years*:

a.        Less than one year (i.e. current financial year)
b.        One year
c.        Two years
d.        Three years
e.        Four years
f.         Five years
g.        Six years
h.        Seven years
i.         Eight years
j.         Nine years
k.        Ten years
l.         11 - 19 years
m.       20 or more years

*Please treat ‘years’ as financial years. If a home has been listed as empty within the current financial year, I would expect this to be listed as ‘less than one year’.
Please could you break this information down by:
Column a) The ‘number of years’
Column b) ‘Private’ or ‘council’ home - a separate count for private, and council, if available
Column c) The number of vacant homes

2) For the financial years (2016/2017 - 2021/2022 and any data available for 2022/2023), how much money has your council raised from charging extra council tax on homes that have been vacant for two or more years?

Please could you break this information down by:
Column a) The year
Column b) The amount raised via council tax paid on vacant dwellings

Response 01-06-2023

1) The figures come from a Council Tax report produced on 1st May 2023.

Please bear in mind that Housing records and Council Tax records may well be out of sync. They could have information about empty properties that we either have not been informed about or actioned. This is particularly relevant for the current year as I have only 39 Council Tax properties empty since 1st April 2023 in total, so it’s net minus one private based on Housing’s figure of 40!

b. One Year - 2022-23 - 840 in total so 781 private net of Housing figure
c. Two Years – 2021-22 - 241 in total so 228 private net of Housing figure
d. Three Years – 2020-21 – 119 in total so 118 private net of Housing figure
e. Four Years – 2019-20 – 81 in total so 80 private net of Housing figure
f. Five Years – 2018-19 – 39 in total so 38 private net of Housing figure
g. Six Years – 2017-18 – 48 in total so 46 private net of Housing figure
h. Seven Years – 2016-17 – 38 private
i. Eight Years – 2015-16 – 33 private
j. Nine Years – 2014-15 – 30 private
k. Ten Years – 2013-14 – 14 private
l. 11-19 Years – 2004-2013 – 97 private
m. 20 or more years – 1993- 2004 – 150 private

2) Not held. We are not able to extract these amounts, as data is recorded for one year and above and not two years and above. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.