To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the (a) potential annual rental and (b) total book value of the (i) empty and (ii) occupied residential properties owned by his Department. (313753)

The Department’s empty residential property has a combined potential annual rental value of £24,000. The Department’s occupied residential property has a potential annual rental value of £222,100, which excludes a number of properties held as part of the letting of a larger holding.

The Department’s empty residential property has a total book value of £207,000. The Department’s occupied residential property has a total book value of £5,195,000.

Of those residential properties currently vacant, the houses are either actively being offered for sale or are already sold subject to contract.