MORE than 200 council properties across the borough were quit by tenants last year – costing Barrow council thousands of pounds.

A total of 223 homes became vacant during 2018-19 leading to an £89,000 loss in rent.

The council owns more than 2,500 houses, flats and bungalows, and when tenants leave, the property becomes “void”.

Residents can quit for a variety of reasons including leaving the area, swapping to another property or buying their own home.

However, more than 200 voids were then “re-let” – helping reduce the stock standing empty for long periods of time.

The highest turnover of tenants was in the Vulcan area in the town’s central ward, a report said.

More than two-thirds of all voids are flats – mostly in Ormsgill, the council said.

The highest turnover of social housing in Barrow are one-bedroom flats which accounted for 115 empty properties.

Council managers have appealed to tenants to give four weeks’ notice if they intend to move on, to help get the property ship-shape again for a re-let.

Cllr Des Barlow, the Labour member for Walney North, told the council’s housing management forum that the length of time taken for a “void” property to be re-let had risen during the last year.

Janice Sharp, the assistant director for housing, said the council’s contractor faced difficulties planning for the number of properties which become empty and required works.

Mrs Sharp told councillors: “It’s very difficult to quantify and plan for the number of voids we get each week. According to the tenancy agreements, people should give us four weeks’ notice.

“We should know a month before (they move out) but invariably we still get people who come in and just throw their keys at us and we are not aware we are going to get the property back.

“As such, our contractor has to balance between carrying out responsive repairs to properties and turning round voids which might require repairs.”

The council’s contractor had prepared an action plan to speed up repairs needed to void properties, she said.

“Voids are money. A property void for a week loses us a week’s rent,” said Mrs Sharp.

Many properties which became void tended to be older and needed more time to be modernised, she added.

“They are not always left in a good state and we try to re-let them in as reasonable standard as possible,” said Mrs Sharp.