Legal News

Thanet District Council has launched a new scheme which will offer loans to homeowners looking to renovate former empty properties and then live in them.

Thanet District Council scheme is the first council in Kent to launch such a scheme and will offer secured loans of up to £20,000 to anyone who purchases, renovates and then moves into properties which have stood empty for a period of six months or more.

The scheme – administered in partnership with Kent County Council’s “No Use Empty” initiative – will operate across the wards of the Housing Intervention area, covering Cliftonville West and Margate Central.

It is funded using £150,000 of a wider £4.2 million pot of cluster funding from the Department of Communities and Local Government, set aside for delivering the “Live Margate” Housing Intervention Programme.

The loans need to be paid back over a five- to ten-year-period – and require the successful applicants to live within the newly renovated property for a minimum period of five years.

Deputy Leader of the council and Cabinet Member for Community Services, Councillor Lin Fairbrass, said:

“We’re proud to launch this scheme which is a first for Kent – providing homeowners with the financial means to restore these empty buildings back to their former glory is a great way of breathing new life into the area.

“It is also a key part of the council’s commitment to the wider regeneration of the district.”

Cabinet Member for Economic Development at Kent County Council, Mark Dance, added:


“Thanet is changing rapidly – and becoming a vibrant and creative area where a younger demographic want to live and to work.

“A lot of our efforts to return empty homes through the No Use Empty initiative have been concentrated in Thanet.

“By providing loans to owner occupiers to aid refurbishment works, we not only create new homes to help meet rising demand – but we also help accelerate the regeneration process, as empty homes can blight an area, attract crime and deter investment.”

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