Empty homes

How we tackle empty homes

We are working hard to bring empty homes back into use. This helps to improve our local neighbourhoods and provides much-needed housing for the district.

Read our Empty Homes Plan 2025-29 to find out more about our work.

If you own or are looking to buy an empty home in Thanet, we can help you cover the renovation costs with an interest-free loan.

Working in partnership with Kent County Council, we offer two different loan schemes depending on your plans for the property.

No Use Empty Scheme (For landlords and developers)

This scheme helps you pay for repairs so you can sell or rent out an empty property.

• Loan amount: Up to £25,000 per unit of accommodation (maximum £175,000).
• Who can apply: Landlords, owners, and property developers.
• The rule: The property must have been empty for six months or more.
• Find out more on the No Use Empty website

Owner Occupier Loan (for homebuyers)

This scheme is specifically for individuals who have bought an empty home and plan to live in it themselves.

• Loan amount: Up to £25,000.
• Who can apply: Anyone who has bought an empty home to live in.
• The rules:
  • The property must have been empty for more than six months before you bought it.
  • You must live in the property yourself for at least five years after the work is finished.

Get in touch

If you want to apply for either scheme, or just have questions, contact the Empty Homes Team:

• Email: Email us directly via empty.homes@thanet.gov.uk
• Phone: Call us directly on 01843 577934

We are often asked for a list of empty homes in the district, but we do not publish or share this information.

We keep these addresses private to protect the owners’ personal data and to stop the empty properties from being targeted by vandals or thieves.

If you are looking to buy a property in the area, local estate agents are the best people to help you.

Through our ‘Live Margate‘ project, we are buying and fixing up long-term empty properties in Margate town centre, Cliftonville, and Ramsgate town centre.

By repairing these problem buildings, we are creating affordable homes for local families. We do this work alongside Kent County Council, Homes England, and other local partners.

We always try to work with property owners first. However, if an owner refuses to talk to us or fix a problem property, we can take legal action to force them to do the repairs.

As an absolute last resort, if a building is falling apart and nothing else works, we can use our legal powers to take over the ownership of the property (known as a Compulsory Purchase Order).

Further information can be found in the Empty Homes Plan 2025-29

This large property had been abandoned for nearly 20 years and was completely falling apart. When the owners ignored legal orders to fix it, the council had to step in and use public money to make the building safe.

How we took action:

• Because the owners refused to carry out any repairs or pay the council back, we took control of the property and sold it at auction to recover the public’s money.
• The new owner completely transformed the ruined building into seven modern, high-quality flats.

If you know of an empty home near you, let us know about it.  If you are the owner of an empty home and would like our help, please tell us. You can report an empty property via our online form.

Alternatively, you can contact us via:

• Email: Email empty.homes@thanet.gov.uk. Please include the address and the owner’s details, if you know them.
• Phone: Call our Empty Homes Team directly on 01843 577934