Stair cleaning bills set to hit council tenants as historic differences ironed out
Tenants in Levenmouth are about to be billed for stair cleaning services they have previously got for free.
The move comes as Fife Council aims to standardise a charge for residents across the region after a review discovered historic anomalies with some paying more than others, and some nothing at all.
Tenants in Kirkcaldy, North East Fife and Cowdenbeath all pay, but those in Glenrothes do not, while charges in Levenmouth and North East Fife varied.
Dunfermline and South West Fife were not included as they do not have a stairwell cleaning provision.
Treating everyone the same, however, has proved problematic with an initial survey accidentally omitting 192 residents in Levenmouth - and when they were included, just five responded.
Five of Fife’s area committees ran the consultation to find out what charges would be acceptable, and get an insight into the quality of the cleaning being arrived out.
In a year long pilot, tenants would see stairs get two deep cleans carried out each year. The current fortnightly clean would also be cut to ten times per year, with overall costs will be kept the same - and they’d pay a standard charge of £7.02 per fortnight.
While most of the five tenants who responded were happy with the survey, the feedback was of limited use to the Cabinet committee which faced calls for changes to the way consultation is carried out.
Councillor David Alexander (Leven, Kennoway and Largo, SNP) warned: “If 192 people are being hit with a £7 charge, and only two from five say the service is reasonable, I expect some comeback on the council. Once people get hit with this charge they will come back and say they didn’t understand any of this,. We have to sort out our consultation a lot better than we are doing it at the moment.”
Councillor Brian Goodall (Rosyth, SNP) said the charges were “a significant sum” for people in the middle of a cost of living crisis - although those on Universal Credit will not be hit with a new bill.
“We did propose phasing in the charges at the budget,” he said. “My regret is that was not agreed on - it might have alleviated some concerns this additional charge will have on some people.” Cabinet agreed to the new stair cleaning charges and a review of the scheme in 12 months,