Plea for council to clean up house left to rot for more than a decade in Northampton

A neighbour is pleading for the council to do something about the house next door in Northampton which has been left as an unsightly mess for more than a decade.
The derelict house in Murray Avenue, Northampton. Photo: GoogleThe derelict house in Murray Avenue, Northampton. Photo: Google
The derelict house in Murray Avenue, Northampton. Photo: Google

The house on Murray Avenue has boarded up doors and windows, a ruined garden wall and the front garden is a state - no one knows what the inside is like.

David Nicholls, who lives next door, said a man comes now and then to 'camp' there and lights bonfires to keep warm as there is no gas, electricity or water supply.

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Since buying his house in 2008, David said the house has been like it is now and he has constantly reported it to Northampton Borough Council to no avail.

"It would be nice if it was put back in to normal use but as far as I'm aware the council has done nothing," he said.

"I wouldn't expect anyone to live next door to a house like that regardless of any situation. I just can't understand how it has been allowed to continue for so long."

David said there was a fire back in 2008 which damaged the property, and water used to run into his house from next door, causing damp, but that stopped a while ago when the supply was turned off.

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He has repeatedly asked the council to issue an 'empty dwelling management order' on the property, which gives local authorities the power to take over unoccupied homes and use them as housing.

But an officer confirmed to him that such an order has never been used by the council at all, let alone on this house.

"What really annoys me is I have been reporting this property for years for being empty but the council has never enforced an empty dwelling management order so all that reporting was for nothing," he said.

The council has been contacted for comment.

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