A BACKLOG of repairs to council-owned homes will take more than 25 years to complete, it has been claimed.
But they will take five years to complete if tenants vote to transfer 7,500 council properties to a new social landlord.
A ballot to determine the future of Flintshire’s council housing stock is scheduled to take place in autumn.
It comes as the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) says all properties in Wales must be brought up to standard by 2012, but the council says it cannot afford to do it.
Currently it has 36,850 refurbishments to make including the refit of 6,300 kitchens, 6,050 bathrooms, 5,400 heating systems and 1,000 windows.
So far only 26 of the county’s houses meet the standard.
It will take £166 million to make the repairs but housing chiefs say they only have £49 million and they will take 26 years to complete.
But Dee Housing, a registered social landlord (RSL) which has created specifically in the event of a transfer, would have the full £166 million and will take just five years to make repairs.
At a meeting of a housing overview and scrutiny committee, Councillor Patrick Heesom expressed concerns at a potential transfer to an RSL.
He said: “Seven thousand properties are an asset that would be sequestered by a transfer body for zilch,” he told the meeting.
“They argue that they are worth nothing, but their value is immense. It is bare faced privatisation.”
Cllr Peter Curtis added: “You seem certain that it will take 26 years to carry out these repairs but we have no assurances that Dee Housing can do it in five years.
“We can’t find this money, so where will they find it from?”
Richard Lovelace, housing ballot project director, told the meeting: “The council invests a significant amount of money in housing already, but the commitment that Dee Housing are making to residents is that they are able to borrow the money required.”
Speaking on the backlog of repairs, Cllr Alison Halford, a member of the Housing Project Board, said: “I’m really surprised at the figures because I hear every week that more and more work is being done. What have we been doing for the last three years?”
Clare Budden, head of housing, said: “The work we have been carrying out in the last three years has had a positive impact.
“It’s not that we’re not making good progress because we are.”
Following the meeting, she told the Leader: “There is the view that some councils haven’t been spending as much money on their stock as they should have.
“It isn’t the case that our council has badly spent its money in the past. Some stock in some authorities is newer than others.
“Our stock is very old and was built when only one person in the home had a car so now there is a problem with off-street parking.”
The transfer option is not a new idea in Wales.
Residents in Bridgend were the first to vote for a transfer to a new landlord in 2002, followed by Monmouthshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Newport, Torfaen, Conwy, Gwynedd, Blaenau Gwent, Neath Port Talbot, Ceredigion and Merthyr Tydfil.
But tenants in Wrexham, Swansea and Vale of Glamorgan voted to stay with the council.
- HOUSING chiefs have drafted a new robust tenancy agreement in the event that tenants vote to stick with the council.
Sarah Smallwood, neighbourhood housing manager, said in a report: “The tenancy agreement is the backbone of a successful housing service and therefore it is important that it is compliant with legislation and government guidance, enforceable, balanced and clear in its approach to both the tenants and council’s rights, obligations and responsibilities.”