Making empty homes available
Before the pandemic, the number of empty properties started to rise, and they continued to increase throughout lockdown resulting in a higher than usual number of empty properties. After the lockdown was lifted, we concentrated our efforts on getting the backlog of repairs done in our customers’ homes.
It's important for us to quickly re-let homes when a tenant leaves so that more people can have an affordable place to live. This year, we’ve put additional funding and resources into making sure we can reduce the number of empty properties we have, and we’re starting to see these numbers improve.
Here’s some key information on letting empty properties in 2023-24:
We spent £7.1m on improving empty properties so they were ready for new tenants.
Target 475
The average number of empty properties over the last 12 months.
Target 40 days
The average time it took for us to check an empty property, carry out minor repairs and let it out to a new family or tenant.
Target 140 days
The average time it took us to check an empty property, carry out major repairs, and re-let it was 305 days. We’ve encountered challenges with the condition of homes when they’re returned to us, which has contributed to delays in reletting.
0%
of customers were satisfied or very satisfied with the letting process.
0%