TENANTS are not happy with their council landlords, according to new figures.

The latest measure of satisfaction of West Dunbartonshire Council tenants was down almost entirely across the board.

And compared to other social landlords, they were near the bottom of performance in some areas.

Last year covered months of pandemic lockdowns when repair services were impossible or limited.

In 2020/21, the council also failed 215 times to meet the legal obligation to do a gas safety check within 12 months of an appliance being fitted or checked.

That didn’t happen at all in each of the two previous years.

In a report submitted to the council’s housing and communities committee, figures showed a total of 77 per cent of tenants were satisfied with the quality of their home, down from 86 per cent two years ago.

The percentage of properties meeting the Scottish Housing Quality Standard dropped by nearly 10 points from 92 per cent to 83 per cent.

Repair times increased. Emergency repairs went from taking 3.4 hours in 2018/19 to more than six hours. Non-emergency repairs went from taking nearly six days, to almost seven. And the rate of tenants happy with the repairs and maintenance service dropped to 80 per cent from 89.

Medical adaptations, one of the persistent problems the council has struggled to crack for years saw the average time double - from 68 days to 123 working days.

The percentage of tenants satisfied overall dropped from 84 per cent to 79, though there was improvement in areas such as feeling they had the opportunity to participate in decision making.

The average time to deal with an initial complaint was nearly 11 days last year, but only four in 2018/19. More detailed complaints went from taking 17 working days to almost 36.

But there were some improvements. The percentage of tenants who maintained their tenancy for at least 12 months rose from 87 to 92 per cent. That is below the level of other social landlords. The number of anti-social behaviour cases resolved within a set target also rose from 80 to 93 per cent.

But nearly half of all tenancy offers are still refused.

Peter Barry, chief officer for housing and employability, said there was more work to do on anti-social behaviour and housing standards to ensure tenants remained happy with their homes and neighbourhoods.

The council said they were committed to continuing to involve tenants and their representative associations and the West Dunbartonshire Tenants and Residents Organisation (WDTRO).