Agenda item

Committee received a presentation from Matt West, Assistant Director – Housing Property Services on how the Council manages its void properties and the processes involved and the following issues were highlighted –

·       In terms of delivery, meeting was advised that keys received, left items are itemised by Housing Management Teams, survey is carried out, the clearance of lumber goods, works are carried out by contractors or In House repair officers, then it is put through the Choice Based Lettings/Viewing Process Works completed and Certificate and Quality check.

·       In terms of performance meeting was advised that in January the number of voids in progress is 172, that the average days to clear lumber on a yearly basis is improving noting the difficulty in the last few years when performance was low due to covid and the transfer of some street properties in house.

·       Meeting was advised of the high numbers of voids, approximately 1000 in 2022-2023 compared to 750 in 2021-2022) due to the increased works required in the voids, Fire risk assessment (FRA) to be undertaken and asbestos surveys 

·       In addition, there have been more vulnerable allocations which have required last minute adaptations and works, also the loss of white goods and recycling supplier and meter changes have caused delays

·       Director advised that the Service is currently looking at new contractors regarding supply of meters and that a new supplier is now in place for white goods supplier.

·       Meeting was advised that the Service is reviewing its end to end process, to ensure that it hands over repairs and sign up residents as quick as possible.

·       In terms of the Buy back Scheme, Council is purchasing ex right to buy properties which is to be used for temporary accommodation, that additional 130 properties have been acquired for homeless families to remain in the borough rather than using private sector rental.

·       Members were advised of the increased pressure on Voids section to bring voids up to standard, furnished and supplied with white goods but this has been very challenging as these properties have been out of council’s control and management for quite a while and will require surveys and additional resources.

·       In response to a question, meeting was advised that a void is a property that is designated as empty at the end of the tenancy and this could be when a council tenant receives an eviction notice or tenant dies and the property returned to the Council which will then be reserviced and a new tenancy commences with a new tenant.

·       An empty property is a case where either the tenant is not living in the property because they are in care or hospital, that this is not a tenancy management issue to resolve. Meeting was informed that in some cases maybe due to the tenant’s capacity a decision about the tenancy cannot be taken and will only be taken by the tenant or resolved by the courts involvement and this can take a long period unfortunately.

·       Meeting was advised of succession cases, when a tenant dies and someone remains in the property seeking to take over the tenancy, that this will require further investigation to ascertain if they are relatives.

·       The Director acknowledged that presently there are a number of succession cases under investigative, noting that there is a need to improve the performance in this area.

·       To date there are 215 empty properties which are not classified as void, 66 of which are with the Council’s legal services for possession, 37 cases are with investigation because possible fraudulent concerns and 25 are open cases which have been awarded discretionary succession.

·       On the number of empty properties or voids in Housing Association and what influence the Council has, the Director advised of an Housing Association forum which meets every 2 weeks where these issues are raised, reminding the meeting that the Chair has requested 5 of the big Housing Associations be invited to the Committee at a future meeting, an opportunity for members to scrutinise their activities.

·       On the suggestion to retrofit void properties, the Director welcomed the suggestion but reminded meeting that in light of the pressure on the Housing Register, the priority is to put the property back into use and make it available to another tenant.  

·       With regards concerns that properties on estates were being used as Airbnb by absentee council tenants, meeting was asked to report it to Housing Fraud on 0207 5277432, or email, housing.fraud@islington.gov.uk and officers will investigate . The Executive Member noted that going forward with housing officers doing annual visit it is hoped that this issue will be addressed. In addition to the above, the Director noted that with the proposed housing audit checks, this will include a cross referencing with credit checks and the electoral register.
 

The Chair thanked the Director, acknowledging that in light of the pressures on the housing register it is important to investigate further on void and empty properties as families are in need of council housing and prevent fraudulent activities.

RESOLVED:
That the presentation be noted.