Empty council homes in Renfrewshire are being re-let faster than ever and emergency repairs are being sorted a little quicker, but hundreds of homes still don't have satisfactory fire alarms, according to the council's latest housing performance figures.

The six-month update on how the council is doing as a landlord, covering April to September, goes to the Communities and Housing Policy Board at Renfrewshire House in Paisley tomorrow (Tuesday 27 October). Of the 16 national Scottish Social Housing Charter measures it covers, five have improved, nine are broadly steady and two don't have data yet.

What's getting better

  • Re-letting empty homes: the average time to re-let a council home has dropped from 28.6 days to 25.1 days. It was 37.3 days in 2024/25.
  • Emergency repairs: now completed in an average of 4.7 hours, down from 4.9 hours.
  • Empty homes: the share of rent lost because properties are lying empty fell from 0.87% to 0.77%.
  • Gas safety: there were just two cases where a gas safety check wasn't completed within 12 months.

Over the six months, 46 rent arrears cases were booked for court, and 15 of those ended in eviction.

Holding steady

Non-emergency repairs are taking an average of 5.9 days, and 78.1% of tenants are satisfied with their repairs. The council says 99.3% of antisocial behaviour cases were resolved in the period.

Rent collection dipped slightly to 97.9% of rent due, and gross arrears rose to 7.2%. The council says that's in line with this time last year, reflecting the seasonal pattern of arrears, and expects it to recover by the end of the year. Complaints remain an area the council says it's working to improve: a slightly smaller share were answered in full, though the average time taken to respond has come down.

Fire alarms and electrical checks

The figures show 620 council homes are recorded as not having satisfactory equipment for detecting fire and raising the alarm. The council says the rollout of interlinked fire alarms in homes is ongoing, and that detectors are now checked during the annual gas service so expiry dates can be tracked and replacements planned.

The requirement to carry out an electrical safety inspection (an EICR) within five years of the last one wasn't met 452 times, a figure the council says includes homes due for demolition, empty properties and new builds.

How Renfrewshire compares

The report also looks back at 2025/26 against other landlords across Scotland. Renfrewshire's re-let times put it among the top three local authorities in the country, non-emergency repairs were completed in 5.5 days against a national average of 8.75, and medical adaptations took an average of 19.4 days compared with 46.6 days nationally. Rent collection last year was 100.5%, and 91.9% of new tenancies lasted more than a year.

Antisocial behaviour cases rose slightly to 3.3 per 100 homes, still well below the local authority average of almost seven. The council says its priorities now are improving how it handles complaints and how it responds to antisocial behaviour.

The report is for councillors to note, so no decision is needed.