Homes which had vegetation growing on the inside set for renovation after council forces sale
TWO homes which became eyesores after being left empty and derelict for up to 20 years have been sold after Cardiff Council acquired them.
An FOI request revealed the details of the “overgrown” and “uninhabitable” homes in Adamsdown and Canton which have now been sold at auction.
One house, a two-storey property in Cyril Crescent, Adamsdown, has been empty since at least 1994. Since then, its condition has deteriorated, with an extension left unfinished and a collapsing boundary wall bulging out onto an adjacent street.
The owner claimed to be converting the property into flats, but an inspection in 2017 found that there was no work going on at the site, and that they had not obtained any planning permission.
Since completing the forced sale, the Council has had to install CCTV and razor wire around the site after it was repeatedly used for fly-tipping.
The second property, in Romilly Road West, Canton, has been empty since 2010, and was described as being in “extremely poor condition”.
The FOI revealed that the three-bedroom house had vegetation growing on the inside and a rear extension that was becoming detached from the main building, as well as being “generally infested with rodents”.
For both homes, the council issued a Compulsory Purchase Order in 2019, which allowed them to take possession of the properties after becoming satisfied that neither home would be brought back into use within a reasonable time.
“The pandemic has given us a housing crisis, and many would look on empty homes as not just a blight on the community but also a wasted resource,” said Steve Tudball, Cardiff Housing Enforcement Team Manager, in a scrutiny meeting in December.
“These compulsory purchase orders were extremely complex, and in one case we found additional costs that we had to pay which elevated the price. However, we managed to bring a property back onto the market that had been empty for 20 years with a stubborn and intransigent owner.”
The former owner of the Canton property moved out nine years ago and expressed no desire to return. Her legal representatives maintained that she suffered from a range of health issues as well as “hoarding behaviour” that made it difficult for her to deal with the property.
Both properties sold at auction last year and will now be refurbished and turned into residential homes.
The FOI revealed that the house in Adamsdown sold for £226,000 and the Canton property for £240,000, with the owner of the latter receiving £228,109 in compensation. Compensation negotiations for the Adamsdown house are ongoing.
There are around 1,355 properties in Cardiff that have been left empty for six months or more. The fate of these homes, many of which have been left abandoned and derelict for years, has been increasingly scrutinised in the face of the shortfall in affordable housing in Cardiff.
Cardiff Council has estimated that the city will need to build 19,000-30,500 new homes over the next 15 years in order to meet the housing demands of a growing population.
Roath resident Sarah O’Connor lives next door to a house she says has been empty for 20 years. “It’s pretty clear from the front of the house that it has been empty for some time,” she said. “It looks old, the front door looks as though it would be easily bashed in, and there are plants growing inside the house.
“We have recently been hearing scratching noises in our attic and worry there are rodents in the house next door which have come through the wall cavities”
Ms O’Connor says the garden of the house next door, “which is more like a jungle”, has begun to grow onto her property. She has complained about the house to the council, but has yet to receive a response.
Alan Jones has cycled past a similarly derelict property on Newport Road on his way to work every day for several years. “At a guess, I think it’s been empty for eight years, but another person thought it could possibly be 10,” he said.
“I rang the council about it many years ago when we had a storm, as I had concerns about the open timber windows falling onto the pavement and seriously injuring someone.
“Not long after I complained, a digger turned up in the garden. I’ve not seen it in operation and it may mislead the council into believing that the property was being worked on.
“If the owner has run out of money, then I think the council should take action and purchase it. There’s a lot of good land there that can be used for desperately-needed housing. It is a complete eyesore on one of the main artery roads into the city centre.”
Cardiff Council has vowed to do more to bring these empty homes back into use. As well as introducing a 150% Council Tax premium on homes that have been empty for more than 12 months in 2019, the council revealed plans last year to foster greater engagement with owners and make enforcement action easier in order to prevent owners and developers from sitting on empty properties for years.
“We want to foster good relations with owners and to encourage them to return their properties to use,” said Councillor Lynda Thorne, Cabinet member for Housing and Communities.
“Bringing these types of properties back into use, allied to our own council house building programme, has the potential to make significant inroads as we look to deliver more affordable housing across the city.”
