Housing officers responded by illustrating the complexities that lie behind homes becoming empty or void. They stressed that there are no quick fix answers.
Forced access is not an option the council can rely to manage poor tenancies, councillors in West Lothian have been told.
A report was drafted for the Housing Services PDSP after a motion at full council earlier this year calling on ways to improve the management of council housing in a bid to stop homes being trashed by selfish tenants.
Housing officers responded by illustrating the complexities that lie behind homes becoming empty or void. They stressed that there are no quick fix answers.
The bulk of void homes returned to the council are Category C the ones in the worst condition requiring upwards of £12,000 spent to bring them back to a lettable standard.
Key to success remains early engagement with tenants an maintenance of that engagement.
The committee heard that during the last financial year 2025/26, 609 properties from the Council’s lettable housing stock became void.
In approximately half of tenancies that end, the housing officer is unlikely to have a planned or effective pre-termination visit because there is no formal termination notification The tenant has died, abandoned the tenancy or moved into care/supported accommodation, hospital or prison.
In the last year 158 homes became void because the tenant died and 177 were vacated without the tenant contacting housing staff.
There are also circumstances where, even when notice has been given, the tenant did not give access to the housing officer to complete the task.
Only 120 of the homes vacated- 20%- were left after a pre-termination visit carried out by housing officer.
Other reasons for void homes last year included: Tenant Abandonment 53 (9%); Eviction 45 (7%); Tenant moved in to Care / Supported Accommodation 49 (8%) and In Prison 7 (1%).
A report to councillors said: “A property does not usually become a difficult void because of one single issue. In many cases, poor void conditions are the result of cumulative and complex factors which have developed over time.
“While tenant behaviour, neglect, damage or lack of engagement may be relevant in some cases, poor condition should not automatically be assumed to be malicious tenant damage.”
It added: “The condition of a tenancy at void stage can also be affected by the length of the tenancy, historic repair issues, limited access during occupation, or the fact that the property has not benefited from recent capital investment or improvement works.”
Key to success remains early engagement with tenants and maintenance of that engagement.
The report outlined: “Depending on the individual tenant circumstances the housing officer can put in a follow up supervision visit with more regular visits and/or telephone contact on a planned basis.
“There could be signifiers that would ‘trigger’ further discussion. For example, the tenant has never held a tenancy before or had a failed tenancy, or has vulnerabilities due to health challenges, known addictions/substance use.”
The report added: “Forced access is not available as a general response to poor engagement, routine tenancy management concerns or suspected poor property conditions.
“It should only be considered where there is a clear legal, statutory, safety or urgent operational requirement, and where all reasonable steps have been taken to secure voluntary access.”
Councillors heard that here concerns relate to general tenancy condition, garden condition, support needs or low-level property issues, officers should continue to use tenancy supervision, engagement, support referrals, warnings and other proportionate tenancy management processes before any formal escalation is considered.
The end-to-end timescale is 6-8 weeks, which affords the tenant sufficient time to voluntarily arrange the required access. In emergency situations such as threat to life, officers would engage with Police Scotland to effect entry.
The committee heard that the housing department is working to improve void management, exploring e the potential to introduce an incentive scheme for tenants to engage in pre-termination appointments.
Other options include modernising the tenant handbook and creating bite-size videos including ‘how to’ guides to assist tenants in their home. Housing staff are also improving ‘tenant ready’ information for prospective tenants to assist them prepare for the future when offered council housing.
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