Council house rots as 14,000 more needed

8:20am Friday 3rd October 2008

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A large family-sized council house has been empty for four years while more than 14,000 households languish on the waiting list.

Residents living near the four-bedroom semi-detached house in East Barnet say the home has been left to rot and fall prey to vandals.

The house, in Berkeley Crescent, has been disused since its previous occupant died in 2004 and neighbours have criticised Barnet Council for wasting a scarce resource.

Julie Ellis, who lives in the crescent, said: “It’s disgusting — it’s a big house and a family could be living in there. Everyone in the street thinks it’s stupid to leave it empty.

“You always read that there are people who need council houses or a bigger house because they’re in a small house with four kids and there’s a perfectly good house sitting there.”

A spokeswoman for Barnet Homes, which manages council housing, said the house was renovated in 2005.

She added: “The house was subsequently allocated in 2005 to a family who required major adaptations. Extensive plans to convert the property were finally agreed, however the family’s circumstances changed in 2007 before work started.

“The property is now awaiting planning permission to extend it for letting as a large family home, of which Barnet is very short.”

However, Mrs Ellis believes that in the meantime the house has been allowed to fall into disrepair.

“It’s been broken into and vandalised,” she said. “It’s in a terrible state now and it’s boarded up. Somebody stole the boiler and children get in there and vandalise it. It’s neglected and people dump their rubbish and broken fridges in the garden.”

Barnet Homes has 140 empty homes across the borough, 83 of which are being prepared for letting with 57 undergoing major repairs. The spokeswoman said on average 60 homes are let every month.

But Councillor Alison Moore, leader of the opposition Labour group, criticised Barnet Homes for the delay in filling the Berkeley Crescent property.

“This is utterly ridiculous — you could build a new house in less than two years,” she said.

“When you consider there are more than 16,000 families on the housing waiting list this shows a complete lack of focus on what ought to be a priority.”

In an Audit Commission report published in June this year, the organisation was criticised for being slow with major renovations, with an average wait of 45 weeks before work even starts.