South Cambridgeshire facing month-long delays to re-let council homes

Hannah Brown
·1-min read
Exterior of the entrance to South Cambridgeshire District Council offices in Cambourne.
-Credit: (Image: LDRS - CambridgeshireLive)


Delays re-letting council homes in South Cambridgeshire mean it is taking around a month to get the homes ready for new people to move in. South Cambridgeshire District Council said more council homes are being handed back needing a large amount of work done to them, which it said is increasing the time it takes to re-let them out.

The authority set itself the “ambitious” target of re-letting its council homes within 17 days. However, a report published by the district council stated that so far this year it has taken on average 30 to 33 days to re-let the homes. The district council said it is continuing to look at how it works to see where it can improve.

The report said: “Quarter four saw a slight slow down in properties being returned to us, however, March saw a sharp increase to 38 terminations of contract. The returned properties are requiring a large amount of work as has recently been the trend, with many falling into the 25 day category for works.

Read more: Plans to convert South Cambridgeshire offices into flats blocked

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“The housemark benchmarking for property re-lets across the local authorities still averages between 33 to 35 days. We continue to review processes and trends, and review our performance looking for opportunities for improvement and development. Our performance remains within the upper quartile for similar providers and our internal target of 17 days remains a very stretching and ambitious one.”

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