Empty homes officer toolkit

This toolkit provides an accessible and digestible resource to support the practicalities of dealing with empty homes, and gives officers with a range of tools which can support councils to progress to a proactive service.


Against a backdrop of significant pressure to meet increasing housing demand, councils are increasingly exploring other opportunities to meet shortfalls in supply. Bringing empty homes back into use can play a key part of local strategies to meet housing need. 

The LGA has developed a resource for empty homes officers to use to help them in their day-to-day job. The guide has been developed from our report with The Empty Homes Network.

The toolkit includes include:

  • a descriptive guide to the different stages of empty homes activity
  • empty homes premiums
  • the implementation of an empty homes database
  • data cleansing flow chart
  • case prioritisation using the database
  • case progression flow chart
  • a bank of information sources for use in investigation procedures
  • draft letters.