Council house was rejected ten times

An empty council property was rejected by 10 potential tenants.

The proportion of potential rent lost to the council is on the rise and officers blame the removal of a cap on how many times people can refuse a tenancy before they are frozen out of the housing waiting list.

Stirling Council’s environment and housing committee heard on Thursday that one property was offered 10 times, another seven times and six properties were offered out four times.

As a result the proportion of rent lost due to properties being empty stood at 1.06 per cent, the target being 0.75 per cent.

In December there were 29 void properties.

A number of them required “significant works” which, combined with the Christmas holiday period and an average of 2.5 offers per property, meant they took longer than usual to let.

SNP housing spokesperson Alasdair Macpherson asked for more details of why some properties were being refused.

Senior manager for communities and people Alan Milliken told the committee: “People are no longer penalised for refusing properties. It used to be that people got two offers and if they refused both they were taken off the list.

“Basically people can get as many offers as they wish so they put down areas that they may not necessarily want.

“You get a situation where you are offering people houses and it is not the house they want so they refuse it.

“Some will be refused without people even looking at them. Sometimes they are putting down an area and they are only interested in a street or even a specific house.

“We do ask for the reason for refusal and by and large it’s location and seldom the condition of the property.”

Councillor Margaret Brisley said: “I did assume that these properties were being refused several times because of their condition but it would be useful to have the information as to why the refusals were made contained in the report.

Stirling was the third-best Scottish council for void rent loss in 2015/16.