Tenants Talk - Taunton Deane Borough Council

Why is that house still empty?Members of the Tenant’s Forumnew Void Inspectors recentlyviewed some empty homes in theBorough. Quite frankly we wereshocked at the state of some ofthem. It really was a case of ‘thegood, the bad and the ugly’.We know that some people areunable to decorate, however, insome places it is obvious thatbasic household cleaning has nottaken place for some timeTaunton Deane Borough Councilhave a ‘Letting Standard’ for allthe Homes which belong to them.They ensure that prior to a Tenanttaking over the Tenancy of ahome it is in good order, no doubtthere would be questions asked ifthis were not the case.If any of you have previouslyrented from a Private Landlordyou will be familiar with the‘Deposit and Rent in Advance’. Inmany cases the Deposit notbeing refunded if the property didnot meet high expectations whenit was vacated, with chargesbeing made for work carried outafter leaving. Large projects takea considerable amount of timeand resources, leading to homesbeing empty for longer and rentrevenue being lost.The cost of making propertiesready for re-letting ranges from afew hundred pounds to as muchas £15,000 per dwelling. Thatadds up to a staggering £1.3million in 2011/12 and anestimated amount of nearly £2million for 2012/3. This is asizable chunk of the moneyraised by rent to service theHousing Revenue Account,which has to fund all the repairsand renovations to our homes.With more money being spent ofvoid refurbishment it follows thatthe normal programme for thereplacement of kitchens andbathrooms is affected.In a few cases the Council can‘recharge’ for work necessaryafter a Tenancy is given up, webelieve that the figure for thecurrent financial year isapproximately £35,000.Considering the overall sumsinvolved this is quite a smallproportion but it is better thannothing.Please respect and look afteryour home. We all like to live in a‘nice’ neighbourhood most of usrealising that this is only achievedif we keep our homes andgardens in good order. One ortwo untidy places can affect theappearance of the whole estate.We all have times when thingsget on top of us and we may feelthat a task is beyond ourcapabilities. If that happens toyou please ask for help. Youcould speak to your EstateOfficer, and you may think aboutmoving to a smaller property onone level or want to be closer tofamily/friends for support.The place we call home may nothave our names on the Deeds,but we should remember the dayit became ours and try to keep itas best we can.10