£1.5 million lost in rental income while council homes lay empty, says Plaid Cymru MS

Almost £1.5m in rent was lost in just 10 months while empty homes in Caerphilly county were being prepared for new tenants, it has been revealed.

A Freedom of Information request on behalf of Caerphilly Senedd Member Lindsay Whittle uncovered the loss of rental income between April 2025 and February 2026.

Mr Whittle, a former housing manager, said: “I was astounded when I read these figures and they do not include the cost of housing families and individuals in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation or the cost of fitting security screens to empty properties. This is public money going down the drain.

“It highlights once again the need for empty properties to be filled by new tenants as quickly as possible.

“I would like to see a system where workmen move in as soon as previous tenants move out and start the work needed to bring accommodation up to standard. That surely would dramatically reduce the losses in rent income.

“The million of pounds lost because council properties are empty for prolonged periods is money that could have been used to build a lot of new homes and tackle the huge demand for accommodation.”

Caerphilly Council has received more than £20m from the Welsh Government for council house improvement work in 2024-25 and 2025-26.

A Freedom of Information request discovered that one home in the borough had been empty for almost three years while officers at the Labour-run council decide what to do with it.

The council has said that one-bed properties were vacant for an average of 11.28 weeks, two bedrooms for 13.7 weeks and three-bedded for 18 weeks but Plaid Cymru shared that one home has been empty since April 2023.

Lindsay Whittle said that £78,000 was spent on refurbishing one council house in First Avenue, Trecenydd, which had been empty for many months.

On January 19, 2026, the number of vacant council homes in the county borough stood at 265.

A spokesperson for Caerphilly County Borough Council said: “The 265 figure quoted in the statement includes properties where the tenancy has recently been ended and is going through the closure period, which includes resurveying, as well as those held for management reasons, regeneration and redevelopment options and properties ready to be let and in the letting process.

“The actual level of those properties that are in repair in January was circa 140 which is 1.3% of our total stock.

“The property that was empty for three years was part of a planned decant programme from an old sheltered housing complex which has now been decommissioned.

“When one household moves out, a home can’t be re-let straight away. It must go through essential repairs, safety checks and rigorous Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) compliance checks.

“Whilst these additional WHQs standards are added pressure on our housing service’s ability to turn properties around in a timely manner, ultimately, they are for the benefit and safety of our contract holders.”