Empty property (void) management is one of the most important areas of housing management and will be one of Phoenix Community Housing's highest priorities. Phoenix aims to have the lowest possible number of empty properties in its stock and to re-let empty properties as quickly as possible through proper application of its letting policy and lettable standards guidelines to achieve Best Value.

Phoenix Community Housing Association believes that the quality of its void management is of great importance not only to ensure the satisfaction of new tenants but also to protect the value of its housing stock and other properties.

Policy Statement

Phoenix is committed to achieving high standards in its management of empty properties and will strive to meet the performance standard expected for empty property management  for registered social landlords by the Housing Corporation.

The aims of the void management policy are:

• to identify void properties swiftly and minimise the time that they are empty
• to minimise the time taken to complete repairs to void properties, so that rent loss is minimised and homes are available to relet as quickly as possible
• to ensure that properties are brought to an agreed lettable standard that ensures that new tenants can move into clean, modern homes
• to minimise any adverse affects on neighbouring properties and the wider community.

Every day that a property is empty means that prospective tenants may be homeless or living in unsuitable accommodation for longer than is necessary. It also means that no rent can be charged and this is money permanently lost to Phoenix. It is therefore the duty of every staff member involved with void management and Phoenix's designated contractors to minimise the void period for every property.

Phoenix Community Housing will strive to achieve the following levels of performance for their housing:

• Rent losses arising from voids and bad debts (but excluding rent losses from voids not available for letting) should not be more than 3 per cent from total rent receivable.
• The proportion of homes that are vacant but available for letting (including those needing minor repairs) should not be more than 2 per cent of total housing in management.
• The average time taken to relet homes vacant but available for letting (including those needing minor repairs) should not be more than 6 weeks (30 working days).

In addition, Phoenix will benchmark its performance in this area against other Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), and aim over time to continuously improve performance and eventually achieve performance in the top quartile of similar RSLs.

Statement of intent

Phoenix Community Housing will continue to meet housing needs and will maximise rental income by giving high priority to repairing and letting empty properties to a high standard and to strict target timescales. At the same time, Phoenix is committed to offering choice to tenants through a choice based lettings scheme, and recognises that this can have an impact on void turnaround times. Phoenix will aim to balance these sometimes conflicting priorities, and achieve a high standard in both areas.

Phoenix has developed a ‘lettable standard' in consultation with residents to ensure that the condition of homes available for letting meets the aspirations of residents as far as possible. The lettable standard will continue to be reviewed by measuring tenants' satisfaction with the standard of their new home.

Approach

Phoenix Community Housing will implement procedures which will incorporate:

• Prompt identification of void properties
• Pre-inspection of the property when the current tenant advises that they intend to vacate the property
• Ensuring the tenancy is legally terminated and possession lawfully recovered when a property is vacated or abandoned
• Prompt issue of repair orders for works required to bring the premises up to the Phoenix lettable standard before the property is relet.
• The pre-allocation of properties, where possible. This means identifying and signing up a new tenant for a property before the void works are carried out.
• Where practicable, undertaking non-urgent repairs after the new tenant has moved in.
• Introducing a payment of £100 to tenants who ‘clear and clean' their properties when they leave and return their keys.
• Recharging repairs to the outgoing tenant (where damage / waste has occurred).
• Introducing redecoration vouchers, where appropriate.
• Training staff in void procedures and being clear about responsibilities for actions involved in the void management process.
• Keeping accurate and up to date information on systems to provide operational, management and performance data, when required.
• Procedures for the prevention of squatting and action to be taken should squatting occur.
• Establishing a procedure for hard to let properties including monitoring reasons for refusal
• Providing accompanied viewing
• Measuring tenant satisfaction with the standard of their new home via the post-occupation 6 week check.

Where possible, in order to prevent future inconvenience and disruption for the new tenant, Phoenix will carry out Decent Homes works to void properties that have not already had them (where this can be reasonably accommodated within the Decent Homes works programme).

Responsibility

The Director of Operations will be responsible for the planning, implementation and monitoring of Phoenix Community Housing's void management processes and for monitoring the performance of both Phoenix Community Housing and any external contractors engaged by them.

The Director of Operations will be responsible for all void management services including the monitoring of effective void management mechanisms within the local housing office and repairs and maintenance section .

Phoenix Community Housing will ensure that designated members of staff are given clear responsibility for its void management processes at the beginning, middle and at the end of the process.

Consultation

Phoenix Community Housing will publish its policy and standards for void management on its website. The annual report to tenants will include details of void performance achieved. Consultations for any revisions to the void policy will be carried out in accordance with the Phoenix Community  Housing's Community Empowerment policy. This will include reference to the Association's board members and local representative structures.

Phoenix Community Housing will make arrangements for consulting tenants, resident organisations, local voluntary and statutory agencies, and for benchmarking services with other registered social landlords in the region.

Review

The voids policy will be reviewed by Phoenix Community Housing annually, taking into consideration the views of all consulted. The review will seek to ensure that the objectives and targets are being achieved in accordance with the association's required standards, quality, effectiveness and achievement of target timescales and value for money.

Performance Monitoring

Phoenix will provide ‘high level' performance information in this service area for monitoring purposes by the Board, a designated sub-committee and the Phoenix Residents' Group.

Headline performance information will be reported to tenants and leaseholders on a regular basis, through a variety of means. More detailed performance information will be available upon request and as required.

Any review of this policy will take place in conjunction with Phoenix tenants and leaseholders and will take account of legislative changes and the development of best practice initiatives internally or externally so that improvements in performance can continue to be made. 

Associated documents

• Empty property procedures.
• Repairs and Maintenance procedures.
• Lettings and allocation procedures.
• Performance management and monitoring documents.
• Equality and Diversity in Service Delivery Policy.
• Customer Care Policy.
• Community Empowerment Policy.
• Rechargeable Repairs Policy.
• Wider Regeneration Policy.
• Caretaking and Environmental Maintenance Policy.
• Contractor Charter.