West Lothian has seen the turnaround time to refurbish empty council houses slashed in the last year.
The number of days it took to re-let a council home dropped by an average of 15 days on the same period last year last year… at a time when the bulk of homes returned to the council needed the most repair.
As of this week Building Services teams had completed more than 1,000 refurbishments. more than 700 properties had been re-let by the start of November.
The council’s House Services PDSP heard more than 80% of all repairs to empty – or void – homes were completed within eight weeks.
A Central Void Team was created at the end of 2024 to tackle the large number of homes sitting empty and needing refurbishment.
The empty homes cost the council millions of pounds a year in lost rent as well as refurbishment costs. Most homes come back to the council in need of major refurbishment often because selfish tenants trash the properties.
These homes classed as category C costs an average of more than £10,500 to refurbish. This in the best condition- category A- can be turned around very quickly at a cost of around £1,500.
Councillors heard 13 days had been saved on the average mainstream void home time since the introduction of the Central Void Team which co-ordinates the taking back of empty homes the work needs and the re-letting of the home to a new tenant.
Now a new deal with Scottish Gas aims to further reduced the time homes are off the letting book, with faster access and connection to utilities, as well as a supplier in place for new tenants.
One of the biggest delays in the past was not having a utility supplier to reconnect supplies once the previous tenant had quit as a customer with a particular supplier. Housing officers often found it took days to contact the previous suppliers.
When the council takes over a void home, utilities (gas, electricity, water) need to be disconnected, reconnected, or upgraded for new tenants, which often involves multiple suppliers and lengthy processes, especially if properties have been empty for a long time or need energy efficiency retrofits.
Whitburn and Blackburn ward saw the most houses tackled by Building services between April and November- 208. The same ward saw the most homes let- 161.
Following close behind were Bathgate- 114 and 102; and Armadale 114 and 95.
In Livingston 175 homes were tackled by the Building Services team with 121 re-let by November
Chair of the committee, Executive Councillor for Housing George Paul said: “A lot of hard work has gone into this, so thank you.”
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
