Published Monday 3 March 2025 at 16:20
It’s National Empty Homes Week, and we’re joining councils around the country in sharing information about the number of empty properties in our borough and highlighting the work we’re doing to help bring them back into use.
In Blackburn with Darwen, there’s currently around 64,000 properties, and 2.75% – 1,766 – of those are recorded as being empty and unfurnished.
Of these more than half – 949 – have been empty for more than six months, and 301 have been empty for more than two years.
Whilst many homes are brought back into use within an acceptable timeframe with support of our Empty Homes Team, others sadly remain empty for much longer and fall into serious disrepair, often impacting adjoining properties and the people living there. This can frequently result in damp and mould issues.
Empty homes can also attract anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods, ranging from groups congregating at properties to vandalism and theft, which has a wider negative effect on the local area.
Our team is working hard to reduce the number of empty homes in our borough by communicating with owners, signposting them to appropriate services for advice and assistance, and using enforcement action when necessary.
Since April 2024, the team has brought 771 homes back into use in the borough, all of which had been empty for over six months. But, as quickly as they’ve sorted one, more come forward.
Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Deputy Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council and Executive Member for Growth and Development, said:
“This National Empty Homes Week, we want to raise awareness of the fantastic work our team is doing to bring long-empty properties back to life.
“Empty properties, sadly, have a negative impact on our local communities. I would urge residents to get involved by reporting any such properties to us so that the right action can be taken.”
If you’d like to report an empty home that is having a negative impact on your neighbourhood, please call us on 01254 585213 or email: emptyproperties@blackburn.gov.uk, providing the address of the empty house.