Tenants are moving into housing association properties in Chorley within 12 days of them becoming empty.

Staff from Chorley Community Housing (CCH) are celebrating the news that their performance on re-letting properties has put them in among the top associations in the country.

The group has only 13 empty homes, which they say is a record low in the number of vacant properties.

Of those, four are having major works done and tenants are lined up for the others.

Dean Wall, voids and lettings manager for CCH, said: “Our performance on re-letting homes over the past year has been phenomenal.

“The average time taken to re-let an empty property, from the keys coming in to the new tenancy starting, is just over 12 days.

“That compares with more than 27 days for the previous 12 months and an average re-let time when CCH was first set up of more than 80 days.”

Rent loss due to properties being empty is less than 0.5 per cent and faster re-let times have brought in more than £40,000 in additional rental income this financial year.

Mr Wall put the success down to the hard work of his team, including customer services officer Sue Nunwick and lettings officers Helen Flitcroft and Emma Benson.

He said: “The staff who are responsible for signing up new tenants have very tight timescales for getting someone into a new home and ensuring that they meet the criteria for a property, including demonstrating that they have a local connection to Chorley.

“Sue, Helen and Emma are all hard working and very committed to providing a quality service and to helping people to move into their new homes as quickly as possible.”