Another empty home has been restored to its former glory thanks to an intervention by the Council.
The property, a spacious Victorian family sized home on Beauchamp Road in Peverell, was first reported to the empty homes team back in 2014.
Even at that point, it had been abandoned by its owner for the previous four years with regular complaints received about its condition.
To help bring it back into use, the Council tried to help the owner sell it, both directly and with the help of an estate agent.
The property got close to selling a number of times but on every occasion, despite constant pressure from the empty homes team, all of the plans fell through because of lack of engagement by the owner.
In the meantime, the dilapidated condition of the property led to pigeons entering through a hole in the roof and nesting in the loft. Due to the weight of the pigeon guano part of the ceiling collapsed in the main bedroom.
Following more legal wrangling, the Council decided that enough was enough and an Order for Sale was agreed so that the sale completed without any further delays.
Finally, it was put back on the market, and renovated to become an impressive family home and sold again. It is now occupied.
Councillor Rebecca Smith, Cabinet member for Housing and Communities, said: “I’m really pleased to see this home come back into use. Although the number of empty homes in Plymouth is on the decline, we must continue to use all of the powers at our disposal to get that number as low as possible.
“There are thousands of households who need a home in our city right now and every house that lies dormant could be put to use to help the housing challenge.
“I would implore landlords who have property that is not let or they are not using to get in touch with our teams.”
In Plymouth, empty homes officers engage with the city’s most troublesome empty homes all year-round, offering advice, guidance and financial assistance, and with the option of enforcement as a last resort.
A yearly review, where all properties listed as long-term empty on Council Tax records are contacted, is also currently being carried out.
This helps to maintain an accurate total of all unoccupied properties and removes from the figures those where records had not been updated to reflect occupancy.
A number of schemes used to encourage empty home owners to renovate their properties for sale or rental are also in the team's arsenal.