The scheme, which hopes to bring 710,000 empty homes in England back into affordable use, has received enquiries for funding worth over £1 million since it was launched a month ago.

The NEHLF offers secured loans of up to £15,000 charged at a fixed rate of 5% to owners of empty properties to enable them to renovate those homes, make them habitable (to the government’s Decent Homes standard), and rent them out as affordable housing.

Renovation work on the first property to receive a loan from the NEHLF, a house in Blyth, Northumberland, is progressing well. The property had been empty for two years before the owner received a loan of £12,000 from the fund in the middle of September, to help renovate the property. Work including roof repairs, new chimneys, damp proofing as well as installing a new kitchen and bathroom is drawing to a close and it is hoped that it will be completed within the next few weeks.

The NEHLF is a joint initiative between the charity Empty Homes, Ecology Building Society, central government and over 45 participating local authorities

The NEHLF has been funded by a grant of £3 million from central government and is being administered by Ecology Building Society, a specialist mortgage lender that supports sustainable communities. It should provide funding for hundreds of properties and is available to individuals aged 18 and over who own a property that has been empty for six months or more.

David Ireland, chief executive of Empty Homes, said:

“The response to the launch of the fund has been amazing, but it clearly shows that there is a real demand for this type of funding to help get empty homes back into affordable use.

“We hope the fund will enable hundreds of empty homes to be brought back up to standard and back into the housing stock.”

Paul Ellis, chief executive of Ecology Building Society, said:

“I’m thrilled, but not surprised that there has been so much interest in the scheme. At a time when there is increasing demand for homes but an acute lack of supply it makes total sense to bring new life to existing but neglected properties.”