Council tackles Empty Homes issue through 5 year strategy

Issued 10/11/25

South Ayrshire Council has outlined their commitment to address the number of long-term empty private homes in the area through their Empty Homes Strategy 2025-2030. 

There are approximately 45,000 long-term empty private properties throughout Scotland. In South Ayrshire there are currently over 800 private properties registered as empty and, just over 400 of these have been lying vacant for more than one year.

The strategy details some of the barriers to bringing private properties back into use. It also highlights the importance of the Council's Empty Homes Officers who engage with owners and offer practical advice, assistance, and incentives.

Some of the incentives offered by the Council to encourage owners to bring property back into use include:

VAT discounts on eligible works
Matchmaker scheme to assist selling the property in its current condition
Empty Homes Loan funding
Strategic Council Buy Backs (on some ex-Council residential properties)
Discount scheme, suppliers who have offered a discount to empty homeowners for renovations.

Councillor Martin Kilbride, Policy Lead for Housing and Property Services at South Ayrshire Council said: "There are too many private properties lying empty. Bringing these homes back into use is important as we look to meet housing demand across South Ayrshire.

"There is currently no legislation to force owners to act, so we are offering a range of incentives which we hope will encourage them. We know the challenges involved, so we've set ourselves a challenging but achievable target of bringing 19 empty private homes back into use each year."