Housing Tenants Offered £1,100 to Move to Smaller Homes
East Devon District Council has joined in with other councils within UK in the scheme of offering its housing tenants cash sums of up to £1,100 to move out of family homes that have become too big for them.
The money will help towards moving costs and will help in obtaining more homes that are desperately needed for larger families.
Many tenants have large gardens that require a lot of maintainence and they are finding it hard to look after them as well as their homes. Some of them are happy to move nearer family and friends into smaller accommodation that they feel better suited to.
There are a lot of large famlies that are desperate to move into bigger homes and this scheme can hopefully become the ideal situation in keeping all tenants happy.
Housing Needs staff are informing their tenants that they are more than welcome to discuss with them the possibility of downsizing, with no obligations to move if smaller accommodation that if offered to them does not meet with their requirements.
The £1.100 that is on offer with the scheme to move can be put towards not only the moving costs but may help towards buying new furniture for their new home.
This will only work with those tenants that move from a family house into a smaller one and Mr and Mrs Saunders from Exmouth are only too pleased to take up this offer. “Our house was too big for us after the family had left home and we seemed to be rattling around inside it. It took all our time to keep the grass cut, and there was the cost of heating a large house. We now live in a bungalow where everything is designed to make life easy. We downsized and it was the best move we ever made” they said.
Berkshire Council Offer More Money
Council tenants in parts of Berkshire are getting a better deal with this scheme as they are being offered £1,000 for each bedroom plus £500 towards the cost of moving.
The council have reported that many large houses that once accommodated big families have had the children grow up have moved out – leaving couples only in homes that have become far too big for them.
The incentive scheme was launched in response to a shortage of family-sized council and housing association properties available in the area.
Lou McKay, housing initiatives officer for Slough Borough Council, said: "This new scheme will help the council gain more family homes in the borough which are very much needed."
Residents who sign-up will be able to choose the area where they would like to move to.
Commissioner for housing, Councillor Tony Haines, said: "The council will receive much sought after family homes and the tenants who move will be given a home in an area they like, plus some money to help with the move.
"It is vitally important that we have homes for families in the borough."
