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Public Petitions Committee, 25 Feb 2003

25 Feb 2003 · S1 · Public Petitions Committee

Item of business

New Petitions

Abandoned Properties (PE602)

Councillor Danny Logue (West Lothian Council): Watch on SPTV

I have received many complaints from members of my community regarding abandoned properties. One such property was repossessed four years ago after it had caught fire. It was the third house that the owner had set on fire for the insurance money. It was repossessed by the building society and sold to a property developer, which hoped to send someone round with a couple of tins of paint to paint the building up and re-let it. It is a five-bedroomed property with a staircase that goes up to the loft, so it potentially has seven bedrooms. It also has a dining room, a large kitchen and three bathrooms. Such houses sell for about £92,000—they are not on what might be called a run-down council estate. Many of our houses are going through one of the largest-ever refurbishment programmes. They are being fitted with new kitchens, high-quality bathrooms, double glazing, new roofs and so on. It is not as if our estates are run down. We are one of Scotland's leading councils for housing.The property is now noticeable, in that part of the roof has now disappeared and it has been boarded up because it is continually vandalised. The grass is about four feet high. There is still food in the building after many years. However, we are not allowed access to the property. Our correspondence on the matter has gone on for months, if not years; my initial correspondence, in which I asked that something be done, started in February 2000. It took nearly a year to locate the present owner but by that time, the house had deteriorated to a terrible condition. It must be remembered that the house is between two tenants' houses.The property was in such a terrible condition that building control had a look at it, but a notice could not be served because the building was assessed as borderline. Commitments have been given by the owners that work would be carried out within about three months, but the legal department for the present owners has continually used stalling tactics to try to prevent the building from being done up. I do not know why.One of the neighbours was under such stress that he took a severe heart attack. He had to be moved out because of smoke inhalation and the damage that was done to his property. He is now so ill that he no longer comes to see me but must send his daughter instead because he was told not to overstress himself. This man used to work six days a week but he now goes round in a wheelchair. All of that is directly related to the problems with the neighbouring house.The house was last vandalised yesterday. The police were called out because a group of youths were running riot in the house. They smashed any remaining windows, ripped out most of the plumbing and put holes through the walls. Such incidents are a constant problem.We have asked the owner's legal department for the building to be refurbished but still nothing has happened. We therefore ask that the Executive give the local authority the powers that are currently held by the Scotland Office so that we can compulsorily purchase such properties within a limited time frame. Our legal department has been negotiating with the Scotland Office to try to get it to use the legislation, but because the lawyers for the property's owners issue correspondence claiming that something will be done, the problem has gone on for four years. That just is not on, but there is nothing that we can do about it.

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Public Petitions Committee, 25 Feb 2003

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