HouseMark has published detailed research into empty properties and lettings based on data collected in the five years up to March 2015.

The research examined a cross section of cost and performance data from landlords throughout the UK to produce a view on how much it costs them to deal with properties when a tenant moves out and how they perform when making the property ready to let again.

The average cost of making a UK property ready to let after a tenant moves out is almost £2,500. In Scotland, the average cost of making a property ready to let after a tenant moves out was £1,666, the lowest of any UK region.

Scotland also recorded the lowest average re-let time of any UK region in 2014-15 - 22.7 days, three days shorter than the UK average of 25.7 days.

The report further shows that while the average cost per property of void repairs fell in real terms for two years up to March 2013, it has been rising faster than inflation since this point.

The research investigated movements in costs and performance following the introduction of welfare reforms such as the bedroom tax in 2013. Looking in detail at the comparatively high rate of tenancy turnover in 2013/14, the research estimates that the number of UK social tenants moving home increased by 34,000 compared to the previous year, before reducing again in 2014/15. This increase equates to additional costs of about £90m.

Out of all UK regions, Scotland reported the lowest percentage of properties that were vacant but unavailable to let during 2014/15 at around 0.19 per cent compared to a UK wide rate of 0.39 per cent.

Rent lost due to empty properties as a percentage of total rent due in Scotland was lower than for any other part of the UK and Scotland had the lowest labour and materials cost per property of carrying out works on empty properties of any UK region.

Head of HouseMark Scotland Kirsty Wells said: “Across the UK as a whole, the fact that the sector continued to reduce re-let times, while keeping cost rises under control shows that real productivity gains have been made over the last five years. It’s encouraging to note that the average cost of making a property ready to rent after a tenant moves out was significantly lower in Scotland in 2014/15 than for any other UK region – as was the average time taken to re-let a property after a tenant moving out. Another positive for Scottish social landlords is that they had a lower percentage of properties that were vacant but unavailable to let during that time. Furthermore, the percentage of total rent due that was lost as a result of properties being empty was also substantially lower in Scotland than for the UK as a whole.

“Overall, there are some important positives for the Scottish housing sector that can be drawn from this data. Hopefully, on re-let times, the cost of repairing empty properties and the amount of rent lost due to properties being empty, Scotland’s social landlords can keep this positive momentum going in future years.”