Council criticised for delay in letting council houses

4.11.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 14th Sep 2009

Latest figures reveal that it is taking an average of 60 days to re-let council housing.

These 'voids' measure the time a property is left empty between tenants. Norwich City Council has a turnaround target of 25 days. The poor performance, which was debated at the council's scrutiny last week, means that council homes are sitting empty whilst the housing waiting list continues to grow.

Cllr Brian Watkins, Liberal Democrat Leader on Norwich City Council and Vice-Chair of the council's Scrutiny Committee, commented: "This current average of 60 days between lets is just unacceptable, especially when those in need of housing are growing in number. When a property is left empty between tenants (voids) this is very visible to the public. They notice when the flat next door or house across the street is unoccupied for weeks on end and it is a very clear sign to residents that the council is not efficient."

The council's housing department is still struggling to overcome the Greyhound Opening houses-for-staff scandal and the zero-star rating from the Audit Commission.

"The voids issue is a basic problem that time and again the Labour administration have claimed they have sorted. These latest figures show that this is not the case and they call into question the effectiveness of the new Housing Improvement Board and Labour's strategy in dealing with the problem. We should also remember that 60 days is an average, meaning that many houses will sit empty for far longer."

ENDS

1. The scrutiny report can be found at: http://www.norwich.gov.uk/intranet_docs/corporate/public/committee/reports/2009/Scrutiny/REP_Scrutiny_Quarter_One_Performance_Monitoring_2009_09_10.pdf (page 16)