Who lived in a house like this?

EVEN the sqautters don't want to take their chances.

Liverpool City Council has warned it will CPO and sell crumbling houses which have stood empty for more than a decade if their owners can't be traced.

Now it has launched a last-ditch appeal to the public seeking any information about the properties which are mainly to the north of the city.

The council says it has already carried out searches through the Land Registry, council records, electoral roll, probate records and other sources, but to no avail.

 "The council has either already carried out work, or is considering carrying out work on the houses, which have fallen into disrepair to remove blight or prevent statutory or public health nuisances," it says.

"If the owners cannot be found the council may be forced to acquire the properties by compulsory purchase under the Housing Act or force the sale of the properties under the Law of Property Act."

12 years

Councillor Ann O’Byrne, cabinet member for housing, said: "We are determined to honour the Mayoral pledge to bring vacant houses in the city back into use – empty properties can blight neighbourhoods and it is unacceptable that they should be left when they can provide decent homes.”

The council says it will recover any costs incurred through the sale of the houses and any owner coming forward after that will have 12 years to claim any remaining funds which will be held in a court account.

Cllr O'Byrne added: “When we carry out work on empty properties to make them safe we would normally charge the owners for this work but in these cases strenuous efforts have failed to provide details of their whereabouts, so we are asking if anybody has information about them to let us know and we can take the appropriate action. 

If we can find the owners, officers want to talk to them, in the first instance, about their plans for the property and how they can work together to resolve the issues and get them back into use.

 “If we cannot find who owns the houses we have carried out work on then the law allows us to put them up for sale and recover the money we have spent."