South Ayrshire Council to consider turning empty shop units into homes

South Ayrshire Council will look at the possibility of turning empty shop units into homes as well as bringing hundreds of empty homes back into use.

Housing strategy officer Chris Carroll revealed the potential for the move during a report to cabinet on the council’s empty homes strategy.

The strategy offers a range of supports for owners, including an empty homes loan and support for those owners who live outside South Ayrshire managing their property.

Councillor Ian Davis said: “This is an excellent report for a lot of good work going on, especially given an impact of empty properties on the community and current levels of housing demand.”

He asked Carroll about looking beyond existing housing toward the potential around empty retail and commercial properties.

Mr Carroll responded: “If you are thinking about it as a way to promote town centre living, with the amount of empty shop units that we may have, we will explore whether there are opportunities for a change of use or through the empty homes loan to find ways of bringing them back into use.”

The council says that there are 800 properties across South Ayrshire that are currently classed as empty.

More than half of these have been empty for more than a year.

The council says that there are more than 4,800 applicants on the waiting list for council housing.

A statement on its website says: “Since only around 800-900 council properties become vacant each year, South Ayrshire is considered as one of the most pressurised areas in Scotland for council housing.”

The revised strategy outlines how the council will work with home-owners, developers, and partner organisations to tackle the impact of empty properties on communities and increase the supply of affordable homes.

Over the last strategy period (2018–2023), and through 2024/25, 148 empty homes were brought back into use through council assistance and support.

Officers say that the aim is to build on that progress with a series of initiatives designed to make it easier for owners and developers to act.

These include:

Grant funding for owners to repair or renovate long-term empty properties
A Repair to Rent scheme, where developers or landlords carry out the work and rent the property before returning it to the owner
A Project Management Scheme to assist owners who live outside the area
An Empty Homes Grant Fund to help turn vacant properties into affordable housing through the Council’s Social Letting Service

The strategy also states the council’s commitment to environmental sustainability, noting that refurbishing empty homes produces around one-third of the carbon emissions generated by building new housing.

Councillor Martin Kilbride welcomed the strategy and stressed the importance of the service, despite having a relatively small team, particularly helping owner who do not know how to progress.

Councillor Alec Clark also praised the report, but queried one part around his own Girvan and South Carrick ward.

He said: “You’ve got down here Carrick South and Girvan is the most rural areas and had high numbers of long term empty homes and that this can be explained by high migration to urban areas.

“But that doesn’t quite resonate with me. I speak to local estate agents and they have a fairly robust rental sector.

“There may be issues, but I don’t understand why you say high migration, considering there is a high demand for social housing.”

Carroll offered to discuss the matter with Cllr Clark outwith the meeting.

The updated Empty Homes Strategy will come into effect by December 31, 2025 and will support the wider goals of the Local Housing Strategy 2023–2028, which aims to ensure “everyone can find a good quality home that they can afford, that meets their needs, and is in an area where they feel safe and connected.”