Bucks Council spent £530k on its empty properties despite growing housing list

Most of the cash – £370,751.50 – went on looking after a single educational setting currently sat empty, which the council said it was ‘working on alternative propositions’ for.

The unitary authority provided details of its spending on maintaining empty properties following a freedom of information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

“You cannot help but be concerned when reading the amount of vacant residential office, educational and retail properties which have remained empty in Buckinghamshire over the past 12 months,” Councillor Robin Stuchbury told the LDRS after viewing the data.

The Labour member added: “The figures are extremely large, especially special set against the council’s fiscal realities.”

A total of 13 council-owned properties, both residential and commercial, had been vacant for more than six months at the beginning of 2025, according to the council’s FOI response.

The costs of maintaining them over 12 months included but were not limited to security measures, utility costs, repairs and maintenance.

The council refused to reveal the identities of its empty properties, which included an office ‘under offer, with legal paperwork being progressed’, which it spent £73,000 maintaining over the last year.

Three other offices were also listed, one of which was ‘due a new lease’ this month and has cost the council £9,484.43 while empty, while another has been ‘held for potential re-use as a hostel or night shelter’ and has cost £2,382.

Meanwhile, the council is also seeking a tenant for a ‘pavilion’, which cost £10,462 while empty and a retail site ‘under contract for sale, subject to planning’, which was £25,413 to maintain.

Several residential sites were also listed, including one costing £23,630 while sat empty. The council said this was ‘held to support an infrastructure development’ and that it was ‘looking at demolition to remove the revenue pressure, subject to member approval’.

Councillor Stuchbury, who frequently asks the council questions about housing provision, said its use of taxpayers’ money on maintaining empty properties would be hard to take for people on Buckinghamshire’s ‘very large’ housing waiting list.

The council’s housing register comprised 7,058 live applications at the end of September 2024, an increase of 201 compared to July last year.

Officially called ‘Bucks Home Choice’, the register is used to allocate affordable housing within the council area.

The council does not have its own housing stock but instead directs people to housing associations, known as ‘registered providers’.

Councillor Stuchbury said: “Let’s hope after the 2025 local elections, a new direction of travel can be established to ensure the inherited assets of the unitary council do not remain empty and these costs can be reduced.

“And new policies around producing some social uplift from the inherited assets of five local authority and just maybe as suggested some additional affordable accommodation for the hard-pressed members of our community and accommodation for key workers who underpin our Buckinghamshire vital public services.”

John Chilver, the council’s cabinet member for accessible housing and resources, said the authority owns hundreds of properties of different sizes and functions across the county.

He told the LDRS properties remain vacant for a variety of reasons and explained the aim was to keep security, utility bills, repairs and maintenance ‘to a minimum, but safety and security must always remain a priority’.

The cabinet member also said the proceeds of any property sales would be used to offset costs and invested back into services, ‘helping to keep budgets balanced and ensuring funds are directed where they are most needed’.

He added “The composition of the majority of empty council properties by their very design, mean they are not suitable to be repurposed as housing stock.

“Instead, where possible, we engage with private property owners to encourage them to bring their empty properties back into use for this purpose.

“Our decision to end discounts for empty properties also means there is more incentive for owners of empty homes to take action to bring their property back into use in some way.”