Is Minstead being decanted?

At the end of September last year I noticed that several of the bungalows in Minstead Gardens looked empty. When I asked the council whether this was deliberate or just coincidence, they denied that there was any problem with vacant properties in Minstead Gardens at all. Here's what they wrote in a reply of 5th October:

"The Hostels Team are responsible for the management of all the odd numbered properties at Minstead Gardens (a total of 16 units).

"There are currently four void units amongst the odd numbered properties at Minstead Gardens. I would like to confirm that the properties are not being decanted for any reason. These properties became vacant after each of the tenants was made an offer of permanent accommodation.

"Members of the Hostels Team visit the tenants living at Minstead Gardens each week to ensure they are occupying their properties.

"The average length of time a property is vacant before a new tenant moves in, is two to three weeks."

So two to three weeks from 5th October - by the end of that month in fact, you'd have thought the flats would be let, wouldn't you?

Fast forward to Sunday just past, 24th January. At least five properties - the exact same properties I wrote to the council about in September - are vacant. They're self-evidently empty - anyone walking past them will be able to tell which ones have no tenant. And I say "at least" because those are the five we called upon based on the current electoral register - electors who don't exist at these bungalows.

But there are huge gaps in the Minstead Gardens electoral register - something not entirely unsurprising given that hostel accommodation generally has a high turnover of residents - but something which also suggests that the number of vacant - or void - properties here is far higher.

It is widely acknowledged that Wandsworth has a very severe housing shortage. That several council properties have been standing empty for months is completely unacceptable. Either the Conservatives are deliberately keeping them empty, callously denying local people a home - or they're empty because of oversight or carelessness: and that speaks to incompetence.