Landlord ‘could take on empty homes’

AMAJOR housing landlord is set to be brought in to manage hundreds of empty homes for Rossendale Council.

Council bosses are exploring options to minimise losses for Valley taxpayers following the collapse of the £5 million homes refurbishment scheme last year.

The failed scheme has already forced council bosses to pay out £600,000.

It was also expected leave council tax payers with a bill of £200,000 in management costs, which the council hopes the new plans will avoid.

Councillors were due to be asked to vote on rec- ommendations to put the running of the scheme out to competitive tender at the full council meeting on Wednesday, July 6, after the Free Press went to print.

The project to refurbish 474 homes across East Lancashire was run by AAAW Ltd, as agent on behalf of the Empty Homes Partnership, until it went into liquidation last year.

A council spokesperson said: “Rossendale council is exploring options to transfer the stock of properties from the Empty Homes Scheme as part of a measure to ensure value for money and mitigate council expense on this project. Since the collapse of AAAW Ltd the council has worked hard and recovered the project well, putting it back on track and compliant with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and industry standards.”

The report to go before the council found that managing social properties for the next five years would cost the council an average of £200,000 per year, and that alternative management agents would provide a ‘better value solution.’

It added: “The renovations are well underway and the first batches completed are of a very high standard and there is healthy demand from the localities. Since February 2015, nearly 100 empty properties have been brought up to standard.”

“If a provider is found there is likely to be a residual role for the council, to include contract enforcement, owner liaison, lease-related issues, returning of unviable properties and liaison with HCA.”

The plan to tender out the running of the scheme is subject to approval by the HCA.

Council bosses issued a public apology last November after an audit report by Lancashire County Council lifted the lid on a series of failings that led to the botched scheme.

The audit report concluded that the mismanagement of the scheme had left a “considerable liability” to the council, the collapse was expected to cost the council up to £2 million.

Tory deputy leader Coun Brian Essex backed the latest proposal.

He said: “This should have been done in the first place, the original scheme was delegated to AAAW Ltd without a full tender process being put in place.

“I hope now the best organisation will be awarded the contract.”

‘This should have been done in the first place’