The £39 million council tax benefit bill allowance to nearly 40,000 people in the Bradford district has to be cut by £4 million, says the Government.

Bradford Council leader Councillor David Green has warned that in light of this, the scrapping of council tax discounts on empty properties will be among proposals in a report going to the decision-making executive committee on June 22.

Fifty per cent discounts on second homes were withdrawn in April last year. In future, all exemptions may go, including the exemption on properties empty for six months.

“There’s an issue with that. Sometimes a home is empty because of the death of a relative. We don’t want to go in heavy-handed. But it’s clear that the Government expects us to make changes, including charging a premium on properties empty for two years or longer,” Coun Green says.

“They’re saying we can cover the cost of the reduction in council tax benefit and, at the same time, cut council tax for everybody by £20. Officers can’t give us exact figures, but the Government says they will balance out.”

Jez Lester, assistant chief executive (asset management) of social housing landlord Incommunities says: “To me it’s a carrot-and-stick approach that’s needed because empty properties are a wasted resource. I think the Government is right to to try to tackle this.

“From a social landlord perspective, the more houses we get back into use rather than stand idle the better.”

Last year the T&A reported that properties empty for six months or more in the district totalled 3,445. Another 10,313, empty for under six months, were in a state of transitional ownership. In July 2010, the number of long-term empty properties was 3,800.

In addition to cutting council tax benefit, the Government is also taking £2 billion out of housing benefit, and this cut is causing some people to change where they live.

In January last year, for example, Mr Lester says single-bedroom apartments, representing 40 per cent of the agency’s housing stock, were obsolete to requirements. The demand was for family homes.

While the demand for houses is still there, cuts in housing benefit are obliging jobless people of working age to downsize, to move somewhere smaller – to single-bedroom apartments.

“If you were over 25 and in a single-bed property, the full rent was paid. Now they’re saying they will not pay that for the over-35s. Those under 35 get a reduced benefit, a single-room rate. That kicked in this year. In the last three months we have seen a greater demand for smaller accommodation.”

The cuts now are merely the start of greater cuts to come, Mr Lester adds.

”Next year, the full welfare cuts come in: Universal Credit, paid monthly in arrears,” he says.

“The housing benefit element will be paid direct to the tenant whereas now it comes to us. Our concern is that this money might be spent on other things, and rent arrears will accrue. There’s only one sanction available to us – eviction. The Government’s view is that people of working age must learn to budget for themselves.”

The new bedroom tax is forcing jobless people on benefits in thousands of Incommunities’ 21,500 properties either to make economies or move elsewhere.

“If a jobless social housing tenant of working age has more than one bedroom, his benefit will be cut by £14 per room per week. About 3,000 of our 21,500 customers will be affected by that. It’s an attempt to free-up larger accommodation for families.

“I recognise that people live in homes, not just four walls. We do help people to downsize. We don’t think reducing benefits is the right way forward, though.

“In the past we thought people didn’t want one-bedroom flats. You can’t have a spare bedroom anymore if you’re on benefits.

“The rules are quite strict. Children of different gender are expected to share a bedroom up to the age of ten; children of the same sex up to the age of 18 are expected to share. These rules only apply to people of working age on benefits.

“We are reassessing our asset management strategy, reviewing the stock we have. Some will be preserved, but we are still demolishing obsolete stock.

“We have started demolishing the Chain Street flats. The flats at Green Lane, off Lumb Lane, are coming down as well,” Mr Lester adds.