Downsizing scheme approved for Perth and Kinross Council tenants

An initiative encouraging Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) tenants with spare bedrooms to downsize has been unanimously approved by councillors.

An estimated 2000 PKC tenants currently live in homes that are bigger than what they need, while around 120 tenants are currently living in cramped conditions and need more space.

The agreed changes will see the local authority double its incentives and pro-actively offer them to under-occupying residents from April.

READ MORE: Major Dumfries and Galloway road blocked in four places as Storm Eowyn brings down trees

READ MORE: Dumfries building collapses in Storm Eowyn as police close town centre

PKC's Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee agreed the revised Tenant Downsizing Scheme when it met on Wednesday, January 22. It was part of an update to the local authority's Common Allocations Policy.

A local authority cannot legally "force" under-occupying tenants to downsize but can offer encouragement and incentives.

PKC tenants are currently offered up to £1000 to help with moving. This will double to up to £2000.

From April 2025, under-occupying PKC tenants will be offered cash and/or non-cash incentives up to £2,000 (helping to provide flooring in the new home, setting up utilities, arranging removals, etc.). They will also be given more choice in the type and size of property they can move to.

One of the key changes is that residents not currently considering downsizing will be offered an incentive to move.

A Housing officer explained: "At the moment, the current incentive scheme is currently only applied to people who have already expressed a wish to move so they don't necessarily need any significant incentive.

"The idea with the Downsizing Scheme is we'll be able to encourage people who are not currently considering moving."

Several councillors referred to having had relatives who continued living in their larger council homes in elderly years.

PKC's strategic lead for Housing and Communities Elaine Ritchie told the committee: "That's the type of situation we're facing on a daily basis and it's not just that they have more bedrooms that they require, but the fuel poverty; there's damp and mould because they're not heating bedrooms so it's a wider cost."

She said the £50,000 PKC has set aside for the scheme was a "spend to save for preventing other issues going on in that property and also saving the person money too".

Conservative councillor Bob Brawn was "pleased" to see the scheme being brought forward but suggested "no amount of money" might persuade some residents to leave their family homes filled with memories.

The Blairgowrie and Glens councillor said: "The only caveat I see is a three or four-bedroomed home may well have been a family home. Their memories are all there. It may be difficult to get them to move. It may be that no amount of money will get them to move. We'll have to see how it goes."

Convener Tom McEwan said: "This is about having a process now that encourages opportunity and takes away barriers to moving.

"As things currently stand, we're waiting for the tenant to come to us.

"But if there are people who are attached to their homes for sentimental and emotional reasons, we're not going to move them on; it's their choice. We're just trying to maximise the choice and the process."