Kent has nearly 5,000 empty homes and in more than half of councils, the number of vacant properties increased in 2016 compared to 2015.

Data released today reveals that while some authorities have seen falls in the number of empty homes, several have seen sharp rises - the most notable being Canterbury which saw a 51% increase over the two years.

The council said the figures were out of date and did not reflect the true situation.

It said the figures represented a snapshot and recent statistics showed the number had fallen.

In contrast, Swale was identified as among the top 10 authorities that saw significant declines with the number falling from 439 to 291 - a 34% drop.

The data comes as the Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the Budget that he was giving councils the power to charge owners a council tax premium of 100%.

The move is designed to stop landlords sitting on empty properties.

He said: “It cannot be right to leave property empty when so many are desperate for a place to live.

"So we will legislate to give local authorities the power to charge a 100 per cent council tax premium on empty properties.”

Dartford had the lowest number of empty homes at 188 compared to 176 in 2015

Thanet, which recently launched an initiative to crackdown on landlords with homes vacant, had the highest number in Kent with 899 in 2016 compared to 731 in 2015.

It is offering loans of up to £25,000 in a partnership with Kent County Council through its No Use Empty initiative to encourage landlords to improve homes.

Dartford had the lowest number of empty homes at 188 compared to 176 in 2015.

In Medway, there was a fall from 879 to 807 in 2016.

Campaign groups and charities have said that councils and the government should be doing more to bring back empty homes into use.

In a statement, the Department of Communities and Local Government said: “We have given councils powers to bring empty homes back into use, and the number is now at its lowest since records began and has fallen by a third since 2010.”

A spokesman for Canterbury City Council said: "The empty homes figure for the Canterbury district as reported last month was 443, which is substantially down from the figure of 599 in October 2016.

"In addition, over the course of the last year, our total housing stock has risen from 66,464 to 66,777, meaning the percentage of empty homes as a proportion of the total stock has now fallen to just 0.66 per cent.”

"We estimate that only 20% of the total are truly empty" - Canterbury City Council

"However, this remains an important issue for us, and we have recently appointed an empty homes officer to try and bring more properties back into use.

"We believe there are around 110 homes where we can intervene and work with owners to try and achieve this.

"It should also be noted that there are many acceptable reasons why a property may be empty.

"We estimate that only 20 per cent of the total are truly empty, when you take out those that are up for sale, being refurbished, in probate or not suitable for residential letting due to their location."

The data was provided by the BBC’s Shared Data Unit.