Our Scrutiny Panel has been looking at how we deal with empty homes, producing a report for our board featuring 21 recommendations.

The independent group of tenants can look at any area of service delivery that they choose, this time focusing on why some empty homes take so long to re-let.

The findings included:

• delays in being able to carry out necessary repairs
• the external appearance of the house and state of the garden
• occasional poor workmanship
• the decorative appearance of some rooms in older properties.

Panel Chairman Keith Harkness said: “Discussions were carried out with staff at Riverside’s Voids and Allocations teams.

“During these discussions we highlighted a problem with communication between departments and this has now been addressed. We would like to thank the teams for their help in getting the information we asked for.

“New scrutiny subjects are under discussion at the present time, and a decision will be made shortly about what to look at next.”