Housing officers are working to engage with tenants in a bid to cut the numbers of empty council homes trashed and abandoned.

Housing officer Jennifer Benson told councillors that “ negative tenancy ends” often result in homes needing major repairs before they can be re-let.

Last year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that the majority of empty homes were left in squalid conditions, classed as Category C, needing £10,500 of repairs.

Questions on empty or void homes top most councillors’ mailboxes as constituents see homes sitting empty for long periods at a time when the waiting list is around 11,000.

In Livingston South ward there were 31 void homes as at 1 October, the local area committee heard. This is 12 more than the same period last year.

There were three evicti

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