Data on Vacant Council Properties
Case reference FOI2024/01629
Received 26 September 2024
Published 18 December 2024
Request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The main purpose of this request is to gather data on vacant council properties in the United Kingdom.
For clarification, this includes all forms of social housing in the ward of the council, including Housing Association. Specifically, I am seeking information on the following: Number of vacant homes: -
The number of vacant council properties
-The number of vacant Housing Association properties Reasons for vacancy:
-Breakdown of reasons why said social housing properties are vacant [E.g. awaiting repairs, legal issues, not meeting the Decent Homes Standard, etc.] Waiting list size:
-How many residents are currently on the waiting list for social housing Waiting list length:
-The average length of the waiting list for a council property
The average length of the waiting list for a Housing Association property
Response
Specifically, I am seeking information on the following: Number of vacant homes: -The number of vacant council properties
Answer: 7 that are currently being refurbished. All social housing offered through the housing register is owned and managed by a number of Registered Providers (housing associations).
-The number of vacant Housing Association properties Answer: Herefordshire Council does not hold this data or have access to the number of void properties each Registered Provider holds. You will need to request this information from each individual Registered Provider. We can advise that as 11/10/2024 there were 19 properties being advertised for rent through the Home Point Scheme (Herefordshire Council’s housing register).
Reasons for vacancy: -Breakdown of reasons why said social housing properties are vacant [E.g. awaiting repairs, legal issues, not meeting the Decent Homes Standard, etc.] Answer: Herefordshire Council does not hold this data or have access to this data. You will need to request this information from each individual Registered Provider.
Waiting list size: -How many residents are currently on the waiting list for social housing
Answer: Unfortunately we do not have current figures available due to our records system currently being updated. The most recent figures we have available are from the 4th November 2024. The total number of households on the waiting list at that time was 2316.
Waiting list length: -The average length of the waiting list for a council property -The average length of the waiting list for a Housing Association property
Answer: Unfortunately we do not have current figures available due to our records system currently being updated. The most recent figures we have available are from the 4th November 2024. Please see below a breakdown of the average waiting times by bedroom need.
- Accessible property
The average waiting time across all bedroom categories is 525 days
- 1-bed property
All Bands (including applicants on the Accessible Housing Register) = 916 days average waiting time
Bands A to D (bands that can place bids) = 892 days average waiting time
- 2-bed property
All Bands (including applicants on the Accessible Housing Register) = 846 days average waiting time
Bands A to D (bands that can place bids) = 809 days average waiting time
- 3-bed property
All Bands (including applicants on the Accessible Housing Register) = 884 days average waiting time
Bands A to D (bands that can place bids) = 891 days average waiting time
- 4-bed property
All Bands (including applicants on the Accessible Housing Register) = 977 days average waiting time
Bands A to D (bands that can place bids) = 990 days average waiting time
- 5+ bed property
All Bands (including applicants on the Accessible Housing Register) = 1198 days average waiting time
Bands A to D (bands that can place bids) = 1224 days average waiting time
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.