The number of days it takes to re-let a council house in east Durham has been slashed by more than 40 per cent during the past year.

Newly released figures for 2008/09 reveal that it now takes East Durham Homes (EDH) an average of just 24 days to prepare a vacant property for its next tenant, compared to an average of 41 days in 2007/08.

This is the third year running that EDH has managed to dramatically reduce the turnaround time for re-letting properties. Since 2005/06, the company has cut its original 84-day average by 72 per cent.

The latest reduction has seen the organisation, which manages more than 8,000 properties on behalf of Durham County Council, ranked the eighth best performing Arms Length Management Organisation in the country.

John Davidson, Head of Neighbourhood Services (Housing Management), said: "The improvement in our re-let performance has the obvious benefit that tenants have less time to wait before they are able to move into their new home.

"However, there is also the wider benefit to the community that there are fewer empty homes in their area. And because properties are now empty for much shorter periods of time we receive more rent, which, in turn, we can then spend on further improving our services."