The number of council homes let in West Lothian dropped by almost 100 in a year, councillors heard.
Lower turnover of properties is the principal reason for the drop from 243 between April and June last year to just 150 in the same period this year.
Councillors on the Housing Services PDSP heard that across 48 towns and villages, 18 had no council homes to let.
In her report to the committee, Housing Needs manager Sarah Kelly said: “The number of permanent lets for the period 1 April to 30 June was 150 (including 2 lets to exceptional circumstances) compared to the same quarter last year when 243 properties were let.
“This decrease in available lets is the result of there being a lower turnover of properties and repairs work being completed in more void properties compared to the same quarter last year.”
A new team was set up last year with the housing department to tackle the rising numbers of long-term empty homes- known as voids. This has speeded up the turnover- getting vacant properties let quicker.
As councillors have also been told, tenants tend to settle once they have a home. Fewer houses come back to relet and this also slows the turnover rate.
The communities with the highest percentage of total lets were Armadale with 22 lets (14.9%); Bathgate with 18 lets (12.2%); and Whitburn with 13 lets (8.8%).
In 20 smaller communities no council homes became available for let in the first quarter of this year. Alongside small villages such as Dechmont, Bridgend and Threemiletown this includes Livingston neighbourhoods Howden and Eliburn. The 20 communities have more than 1,000 council homes between them.
Ms Kelly said: “There continues to be some communities where there is no movement in vacant properties at all.”
The most common properties that were available for letting in Quarter 1 were Cottage types and Four in a Block at 56 each (37.8%) and flats at 22 (14.8%). There were also 11 Maisonettes (7.4%) and 3 Sheltered Housing lets (2%).
In terms of property size, 52% of the lets were two-bedroom properties (77); 27% were one-bedroom properties (41); 19% were three-bedroom properties (28) and 1% were four-bedroom properties (2). There were no five-bedroom properties let in the quarter.
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
