FIVE more empty and derelict homes and one shop are set to be bought by the council before being turned into social housing.

The latest move from Glasgow City Council to bring vacant properties back into use could see compulsory purchase orders issued in Govanhill, Easterhouse and Whiteinch.

These would be at 61 Albert Road, flat 1/1 17 Glenelg Quadrant, flats 1/1, 2/1 and 2/2 110 Lochdochart Road and an empty shop at 940 Dumbarton Road. Councillors are set to back the plan today.

The five residential properties have been identified as “long-term empty homes” while the shop, which has also been lying vacant for a number of years, has been described as an “environmental blight”.

It hasn’t been possible for the council to track down the owners of the Albert Road property, a three-bedroom mid-terraced villa which is in a “poor state of repair”.

Council tax records reveal the home has been empty since 2010. The authority’s executive director of regeneration and the economy, Richard Brown, said: “The last known registered owner cannot be traced.

“Family members have been contacted but are unable to prove ownership. The condition of the property is now having a negative impact on adjoining properties.”

If the compulsory purchases are agreed, the property will be transferred to Govanhill Housing Association, which carry out repairs and offer it as social housing to a larger family.

It has “high demand” for larger properties “due to the shortage of suitable family housing in the area”, a council report reveals.

The Glenelg Quadrant flat, in Easterhouse, has been unoccupied since January 2013. One of the two brothers who own the property has passed away but the title has not been changed to show this.

“The remaining owner has confirmed that he would be happy to sell the flat to Lochfield Park Housing Association on a voluntary basis, but this has not been possible due to the title position,” Mr Brown said.

Flat 1/1 on Lochdochart Road, Easterhouse, has been empty since 2010, flat 2/1 has been unoccupied since 2013 and flat 2/2 was vacated in January this year.

The council has either not been able to agree a deal with, or contact, the owners.

Lochfield Park Housing Association would repair all four properties before bringing them back into use.

It would then have majority ownership in the building, allowing it to take on factoring of the property. “Currently the property is at risk of antisocial behaviour due to the number of empty flats within the close,” Mr Brown said.

No contact has been made with the owner of the Dumbarton Road shop for a number of years, with the council unsure whether he is still alive.

Whiteinch and Scotstoun Housing Association owns an adjoining shop and would convert the two properties into a “much-needed” ground floor, wheelchair accessible flat for social housing.

Owners will be given the opportunity to sell their properties to the housing associations on a voluntary basis prior to confirmation of the compulsory purchase order. Funding for the purchases would be made available to the housing associations through the Scottish Government’s affordable housing supply scheme.