Serving a Section 215 Notice where there is no owner. - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)
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Started - July 2012
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Last activity - Yesterday
Serving a Section 215 Notice where there is no owner.
We have a case which been on-going for a number of years, where the property owners passed away but the children were the step children of the father who died after the mother, and therefore as they werent adopted by the father, they cannot inherit the property. There are family members - cousins of the deceased, in the UK (not living locally), in Ireland and the US. We have obtained their details and served RFI's on them and they have all stated that have no legal interest in the property. The step children have taken legal advice and been advised not to take over the property as the relatives could claim it back at a later date. The property is deteriorating and the garden is become overgrown and the neighbours ar becoming more upset about it as time goes on. Section 215 only refers to the owner and occupier of the land and we appear to have no-one to serve a Notice on. Has anyone successfully dealt with a similar case?
Every property has an owner. It is my understanding that in the event that nobody comes forward, or there is no will and no hiers, then the property reverts to the Crown (Treasury). I would suggest that s.215 is not the best tool in these circumstances. As time goes on, the property is likely to fall into disrepair and get vandalised or worse. S.215 is a liability for the person on whom it is served. OK so there are default powers, but once the notice is spent, it is spent, and future action requires you to start afresh, time after time. Does your authority CPO long term unoccupied housing, to bring property back into use? That would be a far more sustainable solution as you would be bringing it back into use, thereby stopping the rot, providing housing accommodation and removing a source of blight on the neighbourhood.
We have looked into the asking the Crown taking over the property as "ownerless goods" but because we have traced relatives who have declined to take it on we cannot use that route - see Guidelines for Referring Estates to the Treasury Solicitor (BV) For Local Authorities and Hospitals. We are looking at CPO but for a small cash strapped authority its not idea hence we are looking for possible alternatives.
I have never used these, nor am I sure of the specifics of use, but have you considered a Empty Dwelling Management Order under the Housing Act 2004. From my limited knowledge, I believe they can be used to bring a property back into an acceptable state by the Housing Authority, then rented out by the authority taking receipt of all rent until all money owed to the authority in bringing the property back into use is repaid.