To ask the Minister for Infrastructure (i) for his assessment of the efficacy of laws which give powers to local councils to oblige owners to better maintain their properties when they fall into disrepair, dereliction or ruin; (ii) to detail the most recent changes to laws of this kind; and (iii) to detail any plans he has to update these laws.

I am aware that dilapidated properties can have a detrimental impact on the lives of people who live in adjoining properties and also on the amenities of neighbourhoods. There is a range of existing legislation across a number of Departments that is available to district councils to deal with dilapidation and to evaluate its effectiveness.

The Planning Act (NI) 2011 contains a number of provisions that provide councils with the powers to issue a “completion notice” to require a development which has a time bound planning permission, and which has been commenced, to be completed within a time limit of at least 12 months; to issue an order requiring a particular land use to stop or require the alteration or removal of any building or works in the interests of proper planning or amenity; and to serve an ‘Urgent Works Notice’ (UWN), where it appears to a council that works are urgently necessary for the preservation of a listed building (or building in a Conservation Area).