COUNCIL tax discounts on long-term empty homes in Newport are planned to be stopped in a move which could fund efforts to bring empty properties back into use.

Newport City Council is proposing to end a 50 per cent council tax discount on homes lying empty from April 1 next year.

A long-term empty property is described as one which is unoccupied and substantially unfurnished but which is not exempt from paying council tax.

Currently, 1,061 owners of empty properties receive a 50 per cent discount on council tax in Newport.

But under increasing pressure to reduce the number of empty homes, less than 10 Welsh councils now offer the discount, including Newport.

See more on Newport's empty homes here:

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/15506244.2_500_Newport_homes_empty_for_6_months/

Torfaen council has seen a "significant reduction" in the number of long-term empty properties since scrapping the discount, according to a council report.

The report says: "Empty properties can be a blight on neighbourhoods and can be a magnet for anti-social behaviour as well as causing issues for local residents with vermin, damp and the detrimental visual effect on the street scene.

"The council’s performance in bringing these properties back into use is reported annually and historically it has been challenging to get some owners to take steps to bring properties back into use."

Ending the discount is estimated to increase overall income from council tax by £580,000.

Out of the money generated, it is proposed to invest £190,000 in four new posts and enable a "more co-ordinated and robust approach and liaison" with owners of long-term empty properties to bring them back into use.

This will include tougher enforcement action where there are council tax arrears, to maximise the financial incentive of the change.

It will also include offering owners help to access grants and loans to bring homes back into use, with short-term repayable grants part of the offer.

See more on people waiting for homes in the city here:

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/16294607.more-than-8000-people-waiting-for-homes-in-newport-while-a-thousand-houses-sit-empty/

A council report says that owners of empty properties are "typically more difficult to collect council tax from" and take longer to pay.

It says: "There are currently 65 empty properties which despite court action are still proving difficult to collect council tax from, collectively these properties owe in excess of £143,000, an average of around £2,200 for each empty property."

Councillors will decide on the move at a full meeting on Tuesday, with the preferred option to remove the discount.

"Removing the discount could encourage owners to take steps to occupy or let empty properties, which would be beneficial to the city as fewer properties would be left empty and the supply of housing would increase," the council report adds.