The new rules are being introduced as part of Coventry City Council's plans to deal with the high number of dilapidated and derelict properties in the city.

These new measures we have introduced are a last resort

Dean Cooper, Coventry City Council

In extreme cases, the council will either carry out the work themselves and bill the owner or issue a compulsory purchase order.

Dean Cooper, the council's empty property officer, said he currently had 200 privately owned properties on his books which were deemed "unfit".

"These properties are owned mainly by people who have one property that they live in and this is the one they are leaving empty.

"There are many properties where people have no choice but to leave them empty. But some owners are just leaving them because they can't be bothered to do anything with them - they haven't got the time or the finance.

"These new measures we have introduced are a last resort but we have brought them in to make owners, who leave horrible looking properties you wouldn't want to live next door to, listen."