COUNCIL HOUSING for the four local authorities in Tayside and Fife carries a combined outstanding debt of more than £278 million, writes Brian Allison, local government reporter.

Dundee has the largest debt with £124 million, Fife is next with £114 million, then Angus on £23.4 million and finally Perth and Kinross at £17.4 million.

Detailed information on local authority housing income and expenditure across the country is contained in a report released by the Scottish Executive yesterday.

The total council housing debt for Scotland is over £2.2 billion, with Edinburgh recording the highest figure of more than £277 million.

Glasgow does not figure in the report as, in common with Argyll and Bute, Western Isles, Dumfries and Galloway, and Scottish Borders, all of its council housing stock has been transferred to registered social landlords.

A reduction of nearly 700 since last year means that Dundee’s council house stock level is estimated to be 14,385 by September this year.

Fife Council’s stock is also down by around 700 to 31,800, Perth and Kinross is down by almost 200 to 7769 and Angus has dropped by more than 250 to just over 8000. The total for Scotland is put at 330,750, a reduction of almost 19,000.

The average weekly rent for a Dundee council house in 2007/08 is just over £50—above the Scottish average of £48.19 and seventh highest in the country.

Fife is in 14th place with an average weekly rent of £47.10, Perth and Kinross is 22nd with £43.94 and Angus is 23rd with £41.96.

In total the four councils can expect to receive almost £150 million in rental income this year. Fife should get £76.4 million, Dundee £37.3 million, Perth and Kinross £17.7 million and Angus £17.6 million.

For Dundee 75% of that is covered by rent rebate subsidy, in Fife it is just over 70%, in Angus 57.4% and in Perth and Kinross 54.5%.

Across Scotland well over £800 million a year is paid in council house rents, with upwards of half a billion pounds of that qualifying for rent rebate.

Thousands of council tenants across the four Tayside and Fife authorities were in arrears with their rent to the tune of almost £6 million as at the end of March this year.

Rent arrears in Fife stood at £2.6 million, in Dundee it was £1.4 million, in Angus £1.1 million and in Perth and Kinross £800,000.

For Scotland as a whole almost 88,000 tenants were in arrears amounting to a total of more than £41 million.

An average of just over £1100 per house is expected to be spent on repairs and maintenance of Dundee’s council stock in 2007/08, which is higher than the Scottish average of £1026. The Fife figure is £1008, for Perth and Kinross it is £786 and in Angus £568.

The councils can expect to receive more than £43 million in capital receipts this financial year, mainly from the sale of council houses to sitting tenants. Fife should get £22.5 million, Dundee and Perth and Kinross £8.2 million each and Angus £4.7 million.