Published on: 25 Oct 2024 12:30
Written by: Maryhill Housing
We want to make customers aware of upcoming changes to housing transfer applications.
We’ve recently become concerned about the amount of money that we’ve had to spend on carrying out repairs on properties when they become empty. Not only has the cost of carrying out repairs increased in general, but we’ve also seen a considerable increase in spending in this area because of damage caused by poor decoration work and homes not being well maintained or looked after properly.
This significant increase in spending has meant that our Board has had to consider what we should do next regarding this issue. They have agreed that to bring down the level of spending against our budget for this kind of work, we will need to reduce the number of transfers we carry out from 22% to 10%.
From 1st November 2024, we will reduce the number of transfers we will offer to our tenants who have applied to move to another home in order to reduce the number of homes that become empty. We are proposing to reduce our transfer target from 17% of vacant homes to 10% for those tenants whose circumstances have changed and who have a need to move. We will no longer be offering transfers to those tenants who have no need to move for the rest of the financial year (up to 31 March 2025). We will review the targets again in February 2025 and update you on the targets for 2025/26.
We would like to remind tenants who have applied for a transfer that homes must be left in a lettable and clean condition. All transfers are now subject to a transfer inspection before the property is vacated. If this applies to you, please contact your housing officer for this to be arranged so that any issues can be highlighted before you move out. If your home does not pass a transfer inspection, you risk not being offered a transfer to another property.
We didn’t want to make this decision, but as we are significantly over budget in this area, we have been left with no choice.
Thank you for your understanding.