Research released by Halifax and the Empty Homes Agency to mark #EmptyHomesWeek which ran throughout this week reveals that over 600,000 properties remain completely empty in the UK.

This is a stark and worrying fact that is alarming on both the human and business level. Every housing provider knows it is important to have as few empty homes (or voids) as possible – not only do they cost money, they can also be a problem for local communities.

The research also highlighted that the public are concerned about this issue –  36% of people think empty homes are a blight on their local area and 74% believe their local authority should place a higher priority on tackling empty homes.

What more can be done to convert these empty properties into cherished homes?

Reducing the time it takes for repairs and maintenance teams to complete their part of the journey to re-letting a property can be one way to reduce void days.

Field Service software provider Oneserve have been working closely with a number of Local Authorities, Housing Associations and Contractors all over the UK. Through using Oneserve, a cloud based service management solution, customers are reporting better visibility and management of the void process which is enabling them to reduce turnaround days.

Phil Pemberton, Managing Director of Property Services at Sovini (One Vision Housing) commented:

“We have reduced our voids repairs and maintenance days from 10.09 in April 2014 to 8.99 in September 2014. This is a reduction of 11% and attributable to the process improvement we have achieved through using Oneserve.”

Adam Thompson, Managing Director at Oneserve added:

“It's great to see how organisations like Sovini are using Oneserve to turn properties around more quickly. We hope to increase the number of housing providers we work with in 2015 to deliver even more value to the sector.”