More than 100,000 homes in Scotland have nobody living in them – with some lying empty for decades. Campaigners believe getting local authorities to buy the vacant properties could hold the key to easing Scotland’s national housing shortage.
Figures from government body National Records Scotland show 112,300 properties – 4.2 per cent of all dwellings – are unoccupied at any one time. That’s almost one for every 20 Scottish homes.
Of that total, 15,912 have lain empty for between six and 12 months, and 27,584 for more than a year. An estimated 130,000 people in Scotland are homeless or on waiting lists.
