Finding new owners for empty homes

1 Dec 2025 12:37 PM

Scheme launched to help return more empty homes to active use.

A new online portal has been launched to bring empty homeowners together with prospective buyers or developers with the aim of facilitating more properties to be used as homes again. 

Covering the whole of Scotland, this builds on the success of local pilots, referred to as “matchmaker schemes”, which allow owners of empty homes to upload details of their properties to a website through which anyone, such as first time buyers, families, developers or local authorities, can make purchasing enquiries.   

The portal is hosted by the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership and has been developed as part of a £2 million investment this year to recruit additional empty homes officers and fund initiatives that will accelerate the pace and numbers of empty homes that are brought back into use.  

Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan yesterday said: 

“If you have an empty home to sell, this new portal is for you.

"Making best use of existing housing stock is central to tackling the housing emergency. Bringing owners and buyers together is a great way of adding to the overall housing supply, be that for affordable housing or use on the private market and it complements our ambitious house building programme.

“We are already making progress in turning around empty properties. Over the past 15 years we have helped return almost 13,000 privately owned homes to use and last year we saw 2,066 homes brought back in a single year, the highest in a year to date.  

“I would encourage anyone who has a home lying empty to use this new scheme and seek advice from the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership and their local council to bring their home back into use.” 

Tahmina Nizam, Scottish Empty Homes Partnership National Manager, yesterday said: 

“Every home matters in our collective fight against the housing emergency, so we’re delighted to launch this brand-new matchmaker scheme. 

"We know selling an empty home can be a daunting task; the matchmaker scheme is designed to make that process easier and to help get more homes back into productive use. 

"We want anyone who owns an empty home to know that support is available, either from the network of dedicated local empty homes officers working in local authorities across the country or directly from the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership. 

"No home was built to sit empty and it’s vital that we make the best possible use of the assets we already have. Every individual empty property could provide a safe and secure place for someone to call home, but collectively Scotland’s empty homes can make a huge contribution to ending the housing emergency.” 

Background 

Matchmaker Scheme for Empty Homes in Scotland – Scotland Empty Homes Partnership

Properties can be listed free of charge.  

Local schemes currently exist in Aberdeenshire, the Borders, Fife, East Lothian, Argyll and Bute, Orkney and South Ayrshire. The majority will wind down their schemes in place of this new national portal. Aberdeen City will continue their local scheme.  

Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, it is a legal requirement for any property which is being actively marketed for sale to have a home report. As such, owners can list their property on the portal without a home report but must not enter any negotiations with potential purchasers prior to obtaining one.  

If a property is for sale through an estate agent, the asking price must not diverge from what is included on the portal.