Your Homes Newcastle offers cash incentives for tidy tenants

Tenants who leave their properties and gardens tidy and clean could receive up to £150 from Your Homes Newcastle (YHN), the company that looks after Newcastle’s 31,000 council homes.

YHN is starting an End of Tenancy Incentive scheme that will see householders receive one-off cash payments if they leave their houses spotless and in a good state of repair when they move out.

The idea behind the scheme is to reduce the amounts of money and time YHN spends cleaning up properties before they can be re-let.

During 2006-7 YHN’s cleaning bill came to almost £100,000 while roughly £270,000 was spent on property clearance.

Similar schemes have proved successful with other housing associations and councils across the country reporting reduced cleaning costs.

The incentive will also cut the amount of time it takes to re-let a property.

And the initiative, which is beginning now for a six month trial period, should cut the amount of outstanding rent arrears because only tenants who are up to date with their rent or who are paying their arrears off regularly can qualify for the cash payment.

Tenants without gardens will be eligible for a cash award of £100, and those with gardens could receive £150 if they leave their properties clean, tidy and in a good state of repair.

The scheme will be reviewed in six months time and will become permanent YHN policy if it has been successful.

YHN chief executive John Lee said: “Tenants should always leave their properties in a decent state for the next person who lives there, but this scheme gives people an extra incentive to do so.

“The money we save on cleaning and property clearance can be ploughed back into the services we provide, making them even better and more comprehensive.”