Empty Home Grants in West Midlands: What's Available, Where & How Much
The West Midlands faces a significant housing challenge with over 29,000 long-term empty homes sitting vacant across the region, representing approximately 1.11% of all housing stock - slightly higher than the national average of 1.06% for England.
Rugby has the region's highest concentration with 944 empty properties (1.83% of local housing), while Birmingham leads in total numbers with 5,406 vacant homes (1.16% of city housing).
Only 5 out of 28 West Midlands councils currently offer dedicated empty homes grants or loans, with maximum funding ranging from £2,000 in Staffordshire Moorlands to £15,000 in Wychavon.
These valuable but limited funding schemes represent crucial opportunities for property owners and landlords looking to bring derelict buildings back into use across Birmingham, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Shropshire.
Data updated: February 2025.
West Midlands Empty Homes by District 2025
The West Midlands shows significant variation in empty home distribution, with Rugby (1.83%), Malvern Hills (1.72%), and Stratford-on-Avon (1.70%) having the highest concentration of vacant properties. Funding opportunities are concentrated in Wychavon (£15,000), Bromsgrove, Dudley, Nuneaton & Bedworth (£10,000), and Staffordshire Moorlands (£2,000). Urban areas like Coventry (1,624 empty homes) and Stoke-on-Trent (1,644 empty homes) represent significant investment potential, while Wolverhampton (1,485 properties) and Sandwell (1,312 properties) complete the top 5 highest vacancy counts.
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by Robert Jones, Founder of Property Investments UK
With nearly two decades in UK property, Rob has been investing in buy-to-let since 2005, and uses property data to develop tools for property market analysis.
A List of Councils in the West Midlands and Their Empty Home Grants
Note: if you're a local council and would like to add your details here to this resource then please contact us with your details and we will be happy to add them for you.
- Birmingham
- Bromsgrove
- Cannock Chase
- Coventry
- Dudley
- East Staffordshire
- Herefordshire
- Lichfield
- Malvern Hills
- Newcastle-under-Lyne
- North Warwickshire
- Nuneaton and Bedworth
- Redditch
- Rugby
- Sandwell
- Shropshire
- Solihull
- South Staffordshire
- Stafford
- Staffordshire Moorlands
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Stratford-on-Avon
- Tamworth
- Telford and Wrekin
- Walsall
- Warwick
- Wolverhampton
- Worcester
- Wychavon
Birmingham City Council
Location: Birmingham City Council ward map
Birmingham City Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Birmingham through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
They do have an empty homes strategy 2019 - 2024 although no funding is available for property owners.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Birmingham City Council to provide some landlord incentives with deposits, insurance schemes and a 5 year lease scheme.
They also provide support with energy grants. They have appointed three experienced retrofit contractors to help add new insulation, improved heating, solar power and improved ventilation to homes across the City with the ECO4 Grants and Great British Insulation Scheme.
Learn more about Birmingham's property market, rental yields and best buy-to-let areas in our detailed location review.
Bromsgrove District Council
Location: Bromsgrove District Council ward map
Bromsgrove District Council empty homes grants: ✅ Yes, empty homes grants do look to be available in Bromsgrove. It is not clear the exact amount from their website, however on their empty homes page they say:
Own an empty home?
We're committed to help you and we can advise on:
- Property inspections, work schedules and contractors
- Grant assistance
- Renting your property
- Entering the Step Up Private Tenancy Scheme to help rent your property
- Selling your property.
Full details are available on the Bromsgrove Council empty homes page.
They do also provide a 100% discount to council tax for 12 months for properties undergoing major structural and repair works.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Bromsgrove District Council is providing support for the Green Homes Grant to help residents improve their heating and reduce their energy bills. This is in collaboration with a Worcestershire Consortium lead by Wychavon District Council.
Cannock Chase Council
Location: Cannock Chase council ward map
Cannock Chase Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there may not be any empty homes grants available in Cannock Chase through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
In 2018 they did provide up to £10,000 with an empty homes loan, although it is not clear if this is still available.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Cannock Chase Council in partnership with Staffordshire County Council are providing funding for green heating solutions and have signed up to provide support to residents for ECO grants.
Coventry City Council
Location: Coventry City Council ward map
Coventry City Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Coventry through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
They do have a detailed empty dwellings strategy 2021 - 2026, which focuses on signposting owners to services to help them bring the property back in to use or sell it.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Coventry City Council provide two energy improvement grants for home-owners including ECO4 and Great British Insulation Scheme, to help improve hard to heat homes.
Coventry City Council also provide a guaranteed rent lease scheme for a period of 1-2 year for landlords looking for certainty, with their Lets Rent+ strategy.
Learn more about Coventry's property market, rental yields and best buy-to-let areas in our detailed location review.
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
Location: Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council ward map
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council empty homes grants: ✅ Yes, empty homes grants are available in Dudley. The council website mentions a grant scheme with specific terms and conditions that the property must be owner-occupied on completion of works, or tenanted to council nominated tenants, although no specific detail is given to the grant value.
Dudley council have a specific empty homes strategy 2020 - 2024.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: To help support vulnerable residents, Dudley Council provide a home repair grant to repair key items like boilers and roofs.
For properties and residents that do not have a mains gas boiler, they also provide support for the Home Upgrade Grant which can include moving to more energy efficient heating like solar panels.
East Staffordshire Borough Council
Location: East Staffordshire Borough Council ward map
East Staffordshire Borough Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in East Staffordshire through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
They do have information on their website about vacant homes and they have partnered with Grafton Empty Homes to provide solutions for owners to bring run-down homes back in to use.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: East Staffordshire Council provide a landlord support package to encourage renting to local residents and this includes rent guarantee insurance and a grant to cover eviction costs in the first 2 years of the tenancy.
The council are part of the Staffordshire Warmer Homes scheme, aiming to reduce carbon emissions and improve local housing stock. This is a fully funded programme that covers items like solar panels, home insulation, air source heat pumps and more. This is aimed at properties that are off the gas grid and are hard to heat homes.
Herefordshire Council
Location: Herefordshire Council ward map
Herefordshire Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there are any empty homes grants available in Herefordshire through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
However they do have an empty homes strategy 2021 - 2024 and on their empty homes page they say:
We can:
- Provide information on what work would be needed to make the property habitable
- Advise on costs for any works that we recommend that need to be carried out
- Provide contact details of local contractors
- Advise whether you may be eligible for any financial assistance
So it maybe that some financial support and assistance is available and it is worthwhile contacting Herefordshire council if you are an owner of a run-down property.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Herefordshire Council have a couple of schemes in place to help improve local housing stock and energy efficiency including:
Learn more about Hereford's property market, rental yields and best buy-to-let areas in our detailed location review.
Lichfield District Council
Location: Lichfield District Council ward map
Lichfield District Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there are any empty homes grants available in Lichfield through any local grant, funding or lease schemes.
They do have an empty homes policy although this is from 2016. The Lichfield housing strategy 2019 to 2024 also briefly mentions their approach to vacant homes.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: To help combat fuel poverty Lichfield Council help provide support with:
- Warmer Homes, Greener District scheme
- Great British Insulation scheme
They are also in partnership with Staffordshire Warmer Homes to help improve energy performance of local housing.
Learn more about Lichfield's property market, rental yields and best buy-to-let areas in our detailed location review.
Malvern Hills District Council
Location: Malvern Hills Council ward map
Malvern Hills District Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there may not be any empty homes grants available in Malvern Hills through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
In 2018 they did provide up to £15,000 with an empty homes loan, although it is not clear if this is still available, so it is worth contacting the council if you are the owner of a run-down empty home and looking for assistance to bring it back in to use.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: The council provides signposting to energy grants provided by Worcestershire County Council for the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG), which is suitable for hard-to-heat homes that aren't on the mains gas grid and to Act on Energy website for the ECO Grants. More information on these energy grants by Malvern Hills council is here.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
Location: Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council ward map
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Newcastle-under-Lyme through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: There are no additional grants available in Newcastle-under-Lyne, although for hard to heat homes the council do provide links to the central government ECO4 grant.
North Warwickshire Borough Council
Location: North Warwickshire Borough Council ward map
North Warwickshire Borough Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available across North Warwickshire through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: If you have a property that is not on mains gas, maybe it is an oil central heating boiler, then you could qualify for a Home Upgrade Grant. For landlords this is up to £5,000 and covers improving heating systems to solar panels or air source heat pumps and also improving insulation.
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council
Location: Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council ward map
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council empty homes grants: ✅ Yes, empty homes loans are available in Nuneaton and Bedworth up to £10,000.
There is some criteria including the property must have been empty for 6 months or more and the loan is repayable over a maximum of 5 years from the full funding being released.
Nuneaton and Bedworth empty homes strategy 2018 - 2023 is available here.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Similar to nearby councils, Nuneaton and Bedworth provides support with the ECO4 Grant.
Redditch Borough Council
Location: Redditch Borough Council ward map
Redditch Borough Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Redditch through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Redditch Council's Empty Homes Strategy is mentioned on their empty homes page, but it dates back to 2009–2012.
On this page they say:
Own an empty home?
We're committed to help you and we can advise on:
- Property inspections, work schedules and contractors
- Grant assistance
- Renting your property
- Entering the Step Up Private Tenancy Scheme to help rent your property
- Selling your property.
So they may still provide grant assistance, but this isn't clear if it is updated so it is worth speaking with the council if you do have an empty property that you wish to bring back in to us and require financial support.
They do also provide a 100% discount for council tax for up to 12 months on properties undergoing structural works or major repair works.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: For landlords looking to improve a house of multiple occupation (HMO), Redditch Council provide an interest free loan up to half of the cost of the works. This could be quiet appealing for landlords to improve the property with new Fensa installed windows, new roofing with thermal insulation and a new modern boiler.
Full details on Redditch Council loans for work to Houses in Multiple Occupation can be found here.
Rugby Borough Council
Location: Rugby Borough Council ward map
Rugby Borough Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Rugby through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
There is little detail on their empty homes page about funding, although they do say they can offer advice on renovation works and letting the property.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: For vulnerable residents they have a Home Environment Assessment and Response Team (HEART) they can help with grants, loans and arranging works for adaptations, repairs or safety matters.
Homeowners in Rugby can also apply for a grant up to £18,000 to help with improving heating and insulation if they are off mains gas.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Location: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council ward map
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Sandwell through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
They do have an empty homes strategy 2023 - 2028 with a plan to bring back 200 homes in to use.
In this plan on page 8 they mention financing for loans is part of their strategy, but nothing else is confirmed on their website. So it maybe that funding is now available or coming available, and if you own an empty home in Sandwell it is worth speaking. with the council to see if any financial assistance can be provided.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Sandwell Council are looking for more properties to rent and are providing incentives to landlords to work with them. The details on exactly what this includes seems to be on a case by case basis depending on how long you can provide the property to the council. Full details on landlords wishing to work with Sandwell Council can be found here.
For residents living in hard to heat homes that are off the mains gas grid you can apply for a Home Upgrade Grant.
Shropshire Council
Location: Shropshire Council ward map
Shropshire Council empty homes grants: ✅ Yes, empty homes grants are available in Shropshire.
The council provide a grant up to £10,000 and have an advice to grant applicants sheet here and a seperate faq section.
Shropshire empty homes strategy is from 2022 - 2025.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: For Shropshire households looking to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their heating bills, they maybe able to quality for ECO4 Grants which the council are supporting via their website.
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Location: Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council ward map
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Solihull through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
They do have an empty homes strategy although dated 2019.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Solihull community housing do provide a lease scheme to landlords with a guaranteed rent. They are looking for more 2 -3 bedroom homes and full details are here.
Although not funding, they do also provide a landlord advice service to try and meditate in situations with tenants, called Solihome assist.
The Great British Insulation scheme runs to March 2026, so Solihull residents maybe eligible for free or cheaper insulation including external wall insulation.
Learn more about Solihull's property market, rental yields and best buy-to-let areas in our detailed location review.
South Staffordshire Council
Location: South Staffordshire Council ward map
South Staffordshire Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in South Staffordshire through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: South Staffordshire provide a warmer homes scheme to help those residents in fuel poverty. This is to improve homes, heating and insulation for low income and vulnerable households. Details on the three energy schemes they operate can be found here, including ECO4, Home Upgrade Grant and Great British Insulation programme.
Stafford Council
Location: Stafford Council ward map
Stafford Council empty homes grants: ✅ Yes, empty homes loans are available in Stafford.
These are provided up to £10,000 and terms and conditions apply.
Stafford council have a specific empty homes strategy 2019 - 2024.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: For low income households in Stafford looking to improve their heating, they can apply to the Staffordshire warmer homes programme for improvements like air source heat pumps, solar electricity panels and insulation.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
Location: Staffordshire Moorlands District Council ward map
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council empty homes grants: ✅ Yes, empty homes loans are available in Staffordshire Moorlands.
They are targeted to help vulnerable people carry out repairs and remedial works and have a maximum limit of £2,000 per property over a 2 year period. Although they can be used by owner-occupiers and landlords to bring a vacant run down home back in to use.
Staffordshire Moorlands council do have a specific empty homes strategy although this is dated 2017.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: The Great British Insulation scheme is available for local residents with council tax band A-D, to help improve roof or wall insulation and reduce energy usage and cost.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Location: Stoke-on-Trent Council ward map
Stoke-on-Trent District Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Stoke through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Stoke do have an empty homes strategy 2021 to 2026 and since the last empty homes strategy in 2014 they have bought back in to use 1,173 empty homes (page 2 of their strategy report).
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Stoke Council provide a safe and warm home grant, which can be used for boilers, insulation, windows and other items and is available as a grant up to £10,000. Private tenants and landlords can help help to with a grant up to £5,000 if the landlord will provide match funding. This is means tested based on certain income and health requirements. Full details on Stoke Council warm home grant can be found here.
Learn more about Stoke-on-Trent's property market, rental yields and best buy-to-let areas in our detailed location review.
Stratford-on-Avon Council
Location: Stratford-on-Avon Council ward map
Stratford-on-Avon District Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Stratford-on-Avon.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: They do provide support with an energy improvement grant, Home Upgrade Grant (HUG2), which is designed to help hard to heat homes that are off the mains gas grid.
Tamworth Borough Council
Location: Tamworth Borough Council ward map
Tamworth Borough Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Tamworth through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Although in Feb 2024 the council was awarded £250k for community health and wellbeing projects. In an article at the time they mention empty homes:
Empty Homes Officer: £31,268, to recruit a dedicated Empty Homes Officer to oversee the empty homes policy development. The role will be responsible for bringing privately owned empty residential property across the borough, back into use, including enforcement, grants and loans, and promotional activity.
source: Tamworth Borough Council
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Tamworth Council are providing support for the ECO4 grant and Great British Insulation scheme which runs to March 2026.
Telford and Wrekin Council
Location: Telford and Wrekin Council ward map
Telford and Wrekin Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Telford & Wrekin through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Telford and Wrekin do have an empty homes strategy 2021 to 2026.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Telford and Wrekin provide a Warm and Well Grant for local residents. This is means tested but if applicable the property owner can improve the property with energy efficient doors, windows and TRV smart radiator valves.
Walsall Council
Location: Walsall Council ward map
Walsall Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Walsall through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Walsall council have a number of approved contractors that can hello local residents with the ECO4 grant. Details on how to apply here.
Learn more about Walsall's property market, rental yields and best buy-to-let areas in our detailed location review.
Warwick District Council
Location: Warwick District Council ward map
Warwick District Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Warwick through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: They do provide support for applying for central government Green Home Grants, to improve the heating for properties that are not on mains gas. This includes new heating, controls and insulation.
City of Wolverhampton Council
Location: City of Wolverhampton Council ward map
City of Wolverhampton Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Wolverhampton through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: City of Wolverhampton Council provide a healthy homes grant. This is means tested and is for owner-occupiers. It includes repairs to the home, electrical work, roofing work and UPVc windows and doors. The grants are up to £10,000.
Learn more about Wolverhampton's property market, rental yields and best buy-to-let areas in our detailed location review.
Worcester City Council
Location: Worcester City Council ward map
Worcester City Council empty homes grants: ❌ Unfortunately, there are currently no empty homes grants available in Worcester through any local grant, funding, or lease schemes.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: Worcester Council provide a home repair assitancegrant. This is means tested and is for owner-occupiers. It includes repairs to the home for category 1 and category 2 hazards. The grants are up to £10,000.
Learn more about Worcester's property market, rental yields and best buy-to-let areas in our detailed location review.
Wychavon District Council
Location: Wychavon District Council ward map
Wychavon District Council empty homes grants: ✅ Yes empty home grants are available in Wychavon.
Up to £15,000 if the property qualifies for essential works as deemed by the council.
Additional homeowner, tenant and landlord grants: There are no direct grants available by the council for other housing needs, however the Wychavon Council do signpost to some central government grants including energy efficiency improvements for houses.
Empty & Derelict Homes Additional Support
There are some additional schemes that are worth looking at for both homeowners and developers working with run-down, derelict or simply long-term empty homes.
This includes.
Reduced VAT
VAT is a big cost on traditional renovation work, increasing costs by 20%. When you considers a refurbishment can run in to the tens of thousands or even more for larger properties, this can be significant.
For long-term empty homes, builders can charge a reduced rate of VAT at only 5%. This is with the buildings and construction VAT notice 708. So make sure to share this with your refurbishment team if you are considering major works.
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
This is a common cost for people buying properties. It can be significant and can be the difference between a buyer being able to purchase a particular home or not.
In the case of derelict homes. There are some, limited, occasions when SDLT may not be payable. There is specific criteria for this and the property needs to be deemed as derelict and uninhabitable. HMRC have provided some guidance on this here. You can also contact the SDLT team and ask to get clarity for your specific situation.
The aim here is to help provide solutions to help encourage empty, derelict and run-down homes back into use.
For more straightforward SDLT calculations you can see what the costs could be with our calculators
The Future (and History) of Empty Homes Grants
In September 2013 the Government provided funding via the Empty Homes Loan Fund, where loans were provided to homeowners to bring their properties back to a liveable standard. Yet, in August 2014, this was abolished due to a low take-up. Ever since then, the approach to empty homes seems to have changed from a carrot to a stick approach.
With newer government initiatives like doubling council tax on properties that have been empty for more than 12 months. This may seem like an easy win for councils, but the reality is homes stay empty not often out of choice but out of circumstances, personal and financial.
This isn't solved by increasing the burden on homeowners with extra costs.
In 2024, the number of long-term empty homes is reported as 265,061 in England, this is staggering.
When there are so many families and individuals in need of homes across the country, this is grim reading.
We all know of a building or development that looks awful or has become a burden to the community. In the UK, in the major cities and towns, we have a chronic shortage of housing, and the only way to tackle this successfully is in part by building new homes but also by turning derelict, vacant, run-down buildings back into habitable housing.
This is a win for everyone. It provides homes for local communities, creates work for local trades and ultimately improves the area.
Now you know which councils in the West Midlands may be able to assist with funding support, there are different property tools you can use to identify run-down homes, and techniques to use property portals like Rightmove, to specifically find houses that need renovation.
We hope this guide can help you on your way to bringing vacant empty run-down homes in your community back in to use.
Please share it with others to help raise awareness for the available support councils and government can provide to property owners and communities.
Other Regions
For an insight into the solutions at local authority level across the country, below are reviews on what grants, funding and lease schemes are available in other regions to help owners bring these homes back into use for residents.