Agenda item

The Director of Housing submits a report for information to Members of the Commission on the performance of the Voids and Property Lettings Team for the first quarter of 2017/18, inform them of changes in the way void properties are dealt with as a result of the Housing Transformation Review implemented in November 2016, and let Members know what the impact of those changes have been on those allocated a council house and the staff that work in the service area.

The Director of Housing submitted a report on the performance of the Voids and Property Lettings Team for the first quarter of 2017/18, advising the changes in the way void properties were dealt with as a result of the Housing Transformation Review implemented in November 2016 and the impact of those changes on those allocated a council house.

The Head of Service, Housing introduced the report and explained that the City had been divided into 2 areas with the end to end process now managed by two managers to ensure areas worked together and to improve communication between departments.

The Commission noted the achievements to date and the explanation of the terms and definitions for voids as set out in the report and that in terms of the number of voids held the authority aim was to only be holding 2% stock as voids at any one time in order to keep annual rent loss to a minimum.

There was a general discussion on refusal rates during which concerns were expressed about the bidding process e.g. that people were bidding for properties who did not actually want the area or people were panic bidding because they thought they would be taken off the list.

The Head of Service, Housing agreed to consider suggestions that: i) when councillors dealt with people on housing matters they could ask people not to pick areas they did not want as that delayed others from being successful in their bid and being housed; ii) the council should correspond with people first about why they were not bidding for properties rather than take them off the list to avoid people panic bidding in areas they did not want.

The Head of Service, Housing clarified that when the bidding process ended the offer was sent and the bidder given a certain time to respond, if they did not respond that was treated as a refusal. The service was trying to be proactive as it did not want refusals and there were instances where multiple viewings had been arranged so that people could see properties before an offer was made. In relation to whether any penalty was applied to those who refused a property due to the area or had not replied to an offer, at the moment they would not be suspended from the housing register.

Responding to concerns that properties were being let and remaining empty whilst works were completed it was advised that the new letting standard enabled people to view properties so they know what to expect from the property before taking on the tenancy. The service could also re-start people’s tenancies if there were issues like this to avoid incurring rent charges until they moved in.

The Commission noted that the figures given for council tax loss as at August 2017 would equate to almost £1 million over the year and commented it would be good to see that reduced.

Commission members referred to the matter of Sheltered Housing schemes being less popular and it was suggested that there was an issue with housing people with mixed needs together. The Head of Service, Housing responded that as part of the work being done sheltered housing officers had met with other housing officers and a questionnaire was to be sent to all existing tenants as well as a questionnaire to people bidding for sheltered accommodation to ascertain their views and establish the actual demand for such schemes.

The Chair asked that Sheltered Housing form the subject of a report to a future scrutiny meeting tackling the reasons for being hard to let and putting forward remedies.

AGREED:

That a report on Sheltered Housing be brought to a future meeting and this item added to the current work programme.