A grant of up to £25,000 is to be made available to Welsh home-owners to bring their empty properties back into use.

The money, to pay for removal of significant hazards so as to make properties safe to live in and to improve energy efficiency, is to come from an allocation of £50m to a National Empty Homes Scheme.

This is charged with bringing up to 2,000 long-term empty homes back into use – fewer than 10 per cent of the total.

To qualify for the grant, properties must have been registered as empty with the local authority for a minimum of 12 months prior to commencement of the works. And once the works have been completed, the successful applicant must then live in that property as their main and only residence for a minimum of five years.

Aside from owner occupiers, registered social landlords, local authorities and community housing groups will be able to access the funding for empty properties they are acquiring to bring back into use as affordable housing, said Climate Change Minister Julie James.

The scheme has been developed with local authorities and will be administered by Rhondda Cynon Taff Council on behalf of the Welsh Government.

Each participating local authority will have an allocation each year and will be responsible for undertaking surveys of the properties to identify and recommend the qualifying works for grant funding.