Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a limit on the length of time properties owned by (a) social landlords and (b) councils can remain void.
Access to social housing is managed locally, within a national framework. The government has given local councils freedom to manage their own waiting lists, so they can decide who should qualify for social housing in their area and develop solutions which make best use of the social housing stock.
The average (median) number of vacant days before a social housing property (local authority and housing association owned) was let in 2019/20 was 19 days.
The length of time a property is void can be affected by a range of factors, including whether a property is under repairs or in need of adaptations, how extensive these repairs or adaptations are and whether a property is earmarked for demolition or sales. There are therefore legitimate reasons for a property to remain void.