Winter 2011 (1.9 MB PDF) - Angus Council

Housing news
House Exchange launched
We’ve set-up a new on-line system in
partnership with other social landlords
in Angus called Angus House
Exchange. The system will help tenants find
another tenant to swap homes with. We call
this a mutual exchange. The on-line system
has been developed as a pilot project, and
will run until October 2012. There will be an
evaluation of the initial 12 months of operation
of the system.
The Angus House Exchange system allows
tenants to exchange homes with the permission
of their landlord, subject to certain
conditions, such as their current home being
in an acceptable condition. Full details of the
eligibility criteria are available on-line, along
with advice and guidance for tenants using
the system.
The scheme is for people that want to move
but don’t have any need to do so. If you’re
an existing tenant and you’re currently in the
‘inadequate accommodation’ or ‘choice’ categories
of our housing list, this scheme is for
you! The system already covers over 150 social
landlords across the UK, so even if you want
to move away from Angus, the system will
be able to help you identify a new home in
another area.
As an existing council tenant, you now have
the opportunity to register your property online
and then search for other
tenants who may want to
swap home with you.
There is no charge for
this service but if you
find someone to swap
your home with, you’ll
both need the permission
of your landlord. •
We will give our permission unless –
• we’ve told you that we intend to start court proceedings
against you: this is called a notice of proceedings;
• we have a court order to take back your tenancy for whatever
reason;
• if we gave you the house with your work;
• you have any housing related debt with any landlord that’s
more than 1/12th of the current or previous annual rent and
Help the Staffie
Rescue centres across Scotland are under a
massive strain because of the over breeding
and abandonment of Staffordshire Bull Terriers.
According to statistics, Angus has the largest
rate of abandoned Staffies in Scotland. Ian Robb,
Vice-Chairperson of Angus Help for Abandoned
Animals, said that across Scotland it was estimated
that staffies took up 40% of spaces in
charity kennels. Of the 53 spaces for dogs at the
Arbroath kennels, 41 are staffies.
The new year is traditionally a busy time for
most animal charities and in the current economic
climate, most re-homing centres are
seeing a steady increase in pets that need a
new home. Sadly the number of dogs looking for
homes will always be greater than demand and
if more dogs are abandoned, rescue centres
will not be able to cope. “If this is to continue
then we ourselves will have no choice but to
put young healthy dogs down. It’s just so
sad.” Angus Help for Abandoned Animals
would appeal to all tenants to report
anyone they think may have broken their
tenancy agreement by not getting permission
to keep a dog in their home to their local
Community Housing Team or ACCESS office.
The charity relies on the generosity and goodwill
of the volunteers and the local community
to continue with caring for the dogs. You can
contact Help for Abandoned Animals Angus on
01241 870168 during office hours. •
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