Fife Council has been criticised after it emerged it owns homes for rent that have been vacant for more than a decade.
One three-bedroom maisonette in Glenrothes has not had an occupant since December 21 2001. The council is carrying out repairs on the property.
Fifteen other council-owned properties in Dunfermline and south-west Fife have been empty for at least 10 years and are now earmarked for demolition.
In total there are more than 400 empty council houses and flats that could be used as vital accommodation.
Eben Wilson, director of Taxpayer Scotland, said it did not make sense to have properties vacant when the so-called “bedroom tax” had been introduced to free up larger properties.
Under the scheme tenants with extra bedrooms lose a proportion of their housing benefit and have to make up the shortfall in rent themselves, unless they move to a smaller property with the correct number of bedrooms.
However, critics claim many tenants cannot move to smaller homes because there is a lack of available houses.
“Making best use of housing stock is vital so it should concern us all that some houses have been under repair for years, especially as we hear so often that the bedroom tax is forcing families to be re-housed,” said Mr Wilson.
“There are also numerous central capital and other grants that have been made available to improve housing.
“Clearly, Fife will be trying to improve its housing stock, but if it is not able to do it quickly, could they not consider passing some of it over to the private sector where the capital and productivity may be more available?”
“It’s highly wasteful to have this overhang in repairs sitting there when many rent-paying families would like a better or bigger home.”
But Louise Sutherland, service manager with Fife Council’s estates management department, said: “We have seen the average time taken to let a property half in the past few years as we have joined up the various steps in re-letting a house: making it safe through asbestos and utilities checks, bringing it up to a fit standard to relet, ensuring it is clean and clear from the previous tenant, and finding the best match from our housing list which may involve liaison with occupational therapists and other health care providers.
“There will be times when this work takes only a day or two, but if we have to get involved in structural works then this can take considerably longer.
“We also have some properties where there is little demand from the housing list, and these are the ones which are empty longest.
“Our estate improvement plans and regeneration initiatives have again halved the rent lost on these over the past four years.”
Homeless charity Shelter Scotland said Fife Council is working to make as much affordable accommodation as possible available and is also working with private landlords.
Kristen Hubert, Shelter Scotland coordinator of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, which is funded by the Scottish Government, said: “Fife Council has been very pro-active in its efforts to bring long-term private empty homes back into use.
“As part of the award-winning Homes Again Project which operates in the South and East of Scotland, Fife Council funds a Shelter Scotland-managed Empty Homes Officer to work with owners and help bring their properties back into use.
“The council has also recently launched an Empty Homes Loan Scheme offering interest free loans to owners of long-term empty homes to bring their properties back into use for affordable housing.
“Empty homes generally are a blight on the community and a wasted asset. We need to do everything possible to bring as many as possible back into use to help tackle the chronic shortage of affordable housing, not just in Fife, but across Scotland.”
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Alan Cleaver.