Bristol council homes to be sold off if repairs are too expensive

Council homes in Bristol will soon be sold off if repairs and refurbishment are considered to be too expensive.

New plans agreed by Bristol City Council mean that old homes which are poorly insulated and in a bad condition would be sold instead of repaired.

The sales are expected to raise millions of pounds which will go back into the council’s housing budget, to be spent on either repairing other homes or building new ones. But council staff admitted that selling homes in the middle of a housing crisis “appears counter-productive”.

More than 27,000 homes are owned by the council, and around 180 could be sold in the next five years. The plans were approved by the housing policy committee on Friday, July 18 — although Labour voted against the decision, calling for more transparency over how homes are sold.

Green Councillor Barry Parsons, chair of the committee, said: “There are a number of properties within the estate that are extremely challenging to maintain, for one reason or another. It’s absolutely right that we should have a dynamic approach to managing the assets that we have, with the aim that we’re providing for the needs of residents above all else.

“What we’ve had up until now has been an anomalous situation where the council under the previous administration has neither invested in homes nor made any proactive decisions about better uses for them. What we’re trying to do here is actually the opposite. It’s much more proactive and addresses the problems that built up under the previous administration.”

Around £4.9 million is expected to be made from the sales of council properties. This was budgeted for earlier this year. Councillors were warned that delaying or reducing the sales would then leave a huge chunk of cash missing from the housing budget, with less money left over for repairing council homes or building new ones.

Labour criticised the plans, and tried to amend them to make sure the committee approved each sale. But this would “clog up” the committee’s workload, according to Cllr Parsons, as well as slowing down the pace of sales, as the committee only meets in public every six weeks or so. Labour said the decision was “passing the buck” for retrofitting homes with leaky insulation.

Speaking after the meeting, Labour Cllr Zoë Peat said: “It is absolutely extraordinary the Green-led council is even considering selling homes in the middle of the housing crisis. The homes they want to sell are not just derelict — they are selling homes that need retrofitting to make them more energy-efficient.

“Nobody voted for less council housing and less energy-efficient homes. The demand for heat makes up 45 per cent of Bristol’s carbon emissions. Passing the buck for decarbonising our homes is shameful. Do they expect private landlords, motivated by profit, will invest the money needed to retrofit our homes?

“The council already has an established process for selling its assets. Usually, the committee votes on it, but the Greens wanted all council houses to be sold in behind-closed-doors meetings — making a mockery of the transparency their administration was meant to bring to the council. I am genuinely shocked they have endorsed such a dreadful policy.”

Other affected council-owned properties include offices, shops and garages. All properties will be considered for potential alternative uses before getting sold, and local councillors will be informed. Cllr Parsons said whenever a council home is sold, another will be built to replace it.

Excluded from the new policy are high rise blocks, walk-up flats, small blocks with one or more leaseholders, and adapted homes. This policy doesn’t cover council homes sold under the “right to buy” scheme, of which around 121 are sold to existing tenants every year on average.