Council taking 'too long' to re-fill social housing, claims politician

Some council house tenants are being placed in properties that are ‘half finished’, according to a Leeds city councillor.
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Coun Peter Gruen made the claims at a meeting of the authority’s housing scrutiny committee, adding that the target 30-day period to re-let council houses was far too long.

Another councillor claimed some tenants were having to pay for their own repairs to their council homes, which leads poorer residents were being penalised.

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The comments followed a presentation on housing repairs and voids, with officers showing the average re-let time on void properties was gradually lowering to the authority’s target of 30 days.

Peter Gruen suggested the waiting times to get council houses back into use after a tenant leaves are too longPeter Gruen suggested the waiting times to get council houses back into use after a tenant leaves are too long
Peter Gruen suggested the waiting times to get council houses back into use after a tenant leaves are too long

A void is the period of time between a tenant leaving a council home and that same home being taken on by another tenant.

Repairs, cleaning and refurbishment usually takes place during this period, and the target for the entire period between tenants is 30 days.

But Coun Gruen (Lab) believes this is far too long, and means the council is missing out on vital income.

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He said: “I was persuaded some years ago that 30 days was a good re-let time. I can’t believe it takes 30 days – something is going wrong somewhere.”

He added: “In some cases my constituents are moving into properties that are half-finished and you are expecting them to pay full rent while work is still going on around them.

“The council is losing rent, and we are not in a position where we can afford to lose rents.

“There has to be a robustness from the top to see these things through. The most important people here are the people who are on a massive waiting list. All [councillors] can tell you tales of woe from our surgeries of people who are waiting.”

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Leeds City Council’s head of property management Adam Crampton said: “We need to hit those targets. A real area we are putting energy and thought and resource into is the voids and lettings review.

“We recognise there is only so far we can go on improving what we are currently working with.”

Coun Gruen added: “Quality is important, but don’t let someone tell you ‘we don’t need 30 days, we need 40’. Quality is important, but stick to it and get it done.”

Statistics produced by the council’s housing service show re-let times for council housing had reduced over the past 18 months, as most areas had an average of between around 30 and 35 days, having been higher in the summer of 2018.

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A report from council officers claims the data shows an increase in the amount of external works, disrepair prevention works and plastering being carried out.

It added: “While this clearly therefore takes more time and consequently negatively impacts on performance, this is contributing positively to the overall quality of the home so careful consideration is being given to assess how best to address this.

The document also claimed the department had improved its rate of completing repairs on time from 85 to 93 per cent.

But Coun Javaid Akhtar (Lab) claimed many low income council tenants were having to invest in repairing their own properties, adding: “When we neglect those properties, poor people foot the bill.”

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A council officer responded: “Some of the time slots are too long for repairs. With the commitment we are going to see this programme through is the offer to get more feedback from you in order to shape this as a stakeholder.”