Derby City Council formally took possession of six long-term problem properties using its Compulsory Purchase Order powers.
The properties are a combination of long-term empty homes and badly managed private rented houses occupied as bedsits, and were the subject of a high profile Local Public Inquiry.
The inquiry found in the Council's favour and it has subsequently pursued legal processes to the point where possession of the properties vested to Derby City.
They were immediately leased to Nottingham Community Housing Association for a programme of redevelopment and refurbishment, in order to bring them back into the useful housing stock under responsible management.
Councillor Philip Ingall, Derby City Council Cabinet member for housing and advice, said:
"This action sends two strong messages from the City Council. Firstly, we are determined to tackle the unacceptable waste represented by long term empty homes in Derby, and will use all available powers to bring them back into the useful housing stock to help address local housing need.
"Not only are such properties a waste of potentially good homes for Derby residents, but they can impact heavily on local neighbourhoods by attracting anti-social, and often criminal, behaviour - for instance, more than 4,000 syringes, and many skip loads of accumulations and human waste had to be removed from the Leopold Street properties alone to facilitate the surveys necessary for the CPO process.
"Secondly, the Council will not tolerate bad management practices within private rented housing. These are the first houses that we have compulsorily purchased as a direct result of poor management by a private sector landlord - but they will not be the last. We will continue to take a strong line wherever it proves necessary."