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Six tenants joined our Housing and Property Service teams for a day in November to focus on our process for empty homes - from a tenancy ending and a tenant moving out, to a new tenant getting the keys to the property and moving in. This was to get a tenant perspective on the process as part of work being done internally to review it.
Both our Estates and Communities Panel and the Repairs and Investment Panel have touched on issues relating to re-letting homes at recent meetings and had expressed an interest in understanding more about it.
The morning was focused on visiting some empty properties. Two had just been handed back, which was an opportunity to view the condition they had been left in and hear what remedial work would be required before a new tenant could move in. Two additional homes visited were ready for re-let, and this allowed the tenants to view the condition in which we re-let properties, learn about remedial work that we do and don’t do, understand our process for advertising properties and the demand there is for council housing.
After lunch, the tenants heard about the process from our Neighbourhood team’s viewpoint – their visits and support in terms of ending one tenancy and getting a new tenancy off to the best possible start. Then our Tenancy and Financial Support team outlined their role and how they can help with budgeting, maximising income and signposting to support. The real-life stories shared throughout the day helped bring some of the realities and issues to life.
At the end of the day, the tenants said they had found it interesting from start to finish. There was genuine surprise at the condition that some properties are left in, and the group could see from the work required in those properties they visited that it could take a huge amount of money and time to get empty homes ready to re-let.
The group was keen for us to promote what we do more. There was genuine enthusiasm and appreciation that a lot more goes into the process than people would ever realise.
When asked to consider what they had seen over the course of the day and rate our overall process, the average score they gave us was 9/10.
On the feedback sheet at the end of the day, the tenants were invited to leave comments on things they had learned, or things about the process that had surprised them. This included:
"The condition that houses are left in"
"The help that can be given to new tenants, there were some nice stories"
"A lot of things were good"
"It’s been a great insight and an informal day about learning on the council’s process on empty homes. Different teams pulling together to make things work. Well done"
"Surprised at amount spent on empty homes"
"Good support from the Tenancy and Financial Support Service"
The team carrying out the review of our empty homes process will keep our tenant panels up to date with their progress and next steps.
Six tenants joined our Housing and Property Service teams for a day in November to focus on our process for empty homes - from a tenancy ending and a tenant moving out, to a new tenant getting the keys to the property and moving in. This was to get a tenant perspective on the process as part of work being done internally to review it.
Both our Estates and Communities Panel and the Repairs and Investment Panel have touched on issues relating to re-letting homes at recent meetings and had expressed an interest in understanding more about it.
The morning was focused on visiting some empty properties. Two had just been handed back, which was an opportunity to view the condition they had been left in and hear what remedial work would be required before a new tenant could move in. Two additional homes visited were ready for re-let, and this allowed the tenants to view the condition in which we re-let properties, learn about remedial work that we do and don’t do, understand our process for advertising properties and the demand there is for council housing.
After lunch, the tenants heard about the process from our Neighbourhood team’s viewpoint – their visits and support in terms of ending one tenancy and getting a new tenancy off to the best possible start. Then our Tenancy and Financial Support team outlined their role and how they can help with budgeting, maximising income and signposting to support. The real-life stories shared throughout the day helped bring some of the realities and issues to life.
At the end of the day, the tenants said they had found it interesting from start to finish. There was genuine surprise at the condition that some properties are left in, and the group could see from the work required in those properties they visited that it could take a huge amount of money and time to get empty homes ready to re-let.
The group was keen for us to promote what we do more. There was genuine enthusiasm and appreciation that a lot more goes into the process than people would ever realise.
When asked to consider what they had seen over the course of the day and rate our overall process, the average score they gave us was 9/10.
On the feedback sheet at the end of the day, the tenants were invited to leave comments on things they had learned, or things about the process that had surprised them. This included:
"The condition that houses are left in"
"The help that can be given to new tenants, there were some nice stories"
"A lot of things were good"
"It’s been a great insight and an informal day about learning on the council’s process on empty homes. Different teams pulling together to make things work. Well done"
"Surprised at amount spent on empty homes"
"Good support from the Tenancy and Financial Support Service"
The team carrying out the review of our empty homes process will keep our tenant panels up to date with their progress and next steps.
