Tenants of council houses in Dundee are happier with their homes than the average Scot, a major new survey has found.
Tenants rated Dundee City Council’s performance as better than the Scottish average in seven categories including tenant satisfaction with the overall service, housing quality and information and value for money.
Around 91% of tenants said they were happy with the standard of housing in Dundee, compared to a Scottish average of 88%.
And 90% of respondents said they were happy with the overall housing service in Dundee, seven percentage points higher than the national average.
Councillor Kevin Cordell, convener of Dundee City council’s neighbourhood services committee, said: “It is essential that we know exactly how our tenants feel about the service they get, and the quality of the homes they live in so that we can ensure that we meet their expectations.
“When 90% of people we asked tell us that they are either very or fairly satisfied with the service they get it is an overwhelming thumbs-up.
“But that doesn’t mean we are in any way complacent. There is still room for us to improve and that will be the focus going forward.”
A total of 500 tenants from across the city were interviewed in their homes by independent market research company Knowledge Partnership.
As well as asking tenants about their home and services such as repairs, the survey also explored how effective the council’s information and involvement programmes are and whether the services provided offer value for money.
Since the first survey of its kind in 2011 by post, tenants are now interviewed face to face in their own homes and satisfaction has increased in every category.
Mr Cordell said: “The improvements seen in satisfaction, which have fluctuated in some areas in the past eight years, are all moving in the right direction and demonstrate that we are changing things to ensure our tenants feel happier about the services they receive.”
Jim Cochrane, chairman of Dundee Federation of Tenants’ Associations, said: “We are delighted to endorse the results of the recent Tenant Satisfaction Survey and welcome the sustained positive trend in key areas of service provision.
“This demonstrates the council’s commitment to striving for excellence, and we look forward to continuing working in partnership with them, not just to maintain the positive trend, but confident of continued improvement in the future.”
The survey also found 87% of tenants believe their rent is good value for money, compared to a Scottish average of 81%.
Seven years ago, only 67% of Dundee tenants thought their homes were good value for money.
