Jun/090
Not Enough Council Homes to go Around
Research shows that more and more people are bidding for council houses. Edinburgh council have announced that the council house waiting list has ‘grown by more than 1000 people in the last year’.
The list includes first time council home owners, those that are in temporary accommodation and those whose homes are unacceptable or unsuitable.
More people are presenting themselves as homeless to the council than council homes becoming available. Consumers are even bidding on houses in areas that were before hard to rent. Though the government is supplying funding for more council homes to be built, it is still not meeting the demands of the consumer.
Edinburgh council have set up a ‘swap-shop’ scheme where tenants can put there home up for exchange and are hoping that this will increase the number of larger homes made available as these are the homes in high demand.
Jun/090
House Swapping and house trading are part of the council schemes
The council have a scheme for a number of house swapping scenarios. If the tenant is no longer happy living in a specific area they can apply to transfer to another council property outside of the area. Alternatively, there is what is called a ‘mutual exchange’ offer that allows the tenant to swap houses with another council tenant. Both tenants would have signed a register that is available at the council housing offices. The tenant will see who they would like to swap with on the register and apply for the swap with the council housing office. Both tenants need to be in agreement and the swap then takes place.
There is also ‘low-cost home ownership schemes’ which allow consumers to part-rent or part-buy a property.
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