A councillor from Cradley has slammed the plans to sell off twenty-four of the boroughs most run down council properties. At a time when a huge number of people are desperately in need of housing he believes the council should be refurbishing the properties which were once covered by the cheapest landlord insurance.
Councillor Richard Body thinks Dudley Council’s plan to dispose of the properties is ridiculous. The council want to sell the homes off cheaply as they all need significant investment to bring them up to a liveable standard, and the money received, put towards renovating other dilapidated council houses in the area.
Councillor Body said: “There are more people than ever on the housing list crying out for homes. If you have two children the likelihood of getting a house is so slim it is almost nil. We should do everything we can to hold on to our housing stock because it is needed. There are people all over the borough in desperate need of homes. We are losing houses when we don’t have to – it’s disgraceful.”
Dudley Council claim that during the last two years, a significant number of properties have become empty and they do not have the money to cover them with landlord insurance and make them habitable due to major issues such as serious structural faults. Some of the problems have been caused by previous tenants who refused to have any modernisation work done and it was only when they moved out that the extent of damage was seen. A spokesman said the council are always looking to repair properties whenever it is economically viable. However, sometimes other options need to be looked at. The twenty-four properties will be sold ASAP and there has already been interest from developers and a number of private landlords who are looking to increase their portfolios.