A scheme to free up family-sized council homes by offering council tenants financial incentives to move to smaller properties is to be considered by Aberdeen City Councillors next week.

Members of Aberdeen City Council's Housing and Environment Committee are being asked to approve the introduction of the scheme which could see certain tenants in three or more bedroom properties in high-demand areas being paid a downsizing grant to help them move and helped to move to smaller or more suitable vacant housing in order to increase the council's supply of family housing.

Aberdeen City Council has almost 4,200 properties with three or more bedrooms. It is likely that some tenants, many of whom may be elderly, are living in homes which are too large for their needs, but they may be reluctant to move because of the cost implications or because they need help to move.

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Some of these people may also be struggling to maintain and heat the larger properties and some may have a medical problem which makes things like climbing the stairs or cleaning difficult.

Meantime, the council needs to provide suitable family housing for overcrowded and larger families.

The report, which is due to be considered by councillors next Tuesday [16 February] states: "In order to encourage under-occupying tenants in areas of higher demand to downsize and to enable this incentive scheme to be successful we need to make it financially attractive and also to make an early offer of smaller, more suitable property."

An incremental scale of payments could be made, rising with each bedroom surrendered, up to a maximum of £3,000.

Tenants should not contact the council about the scheme as only certain properties will qualify for the grant.

The main qualifying criteria are:

•The householder must be a city council tenant living in a three or more bedroom property designated as high-demand and wish to move to a smaller council property;

•The tenant must have no council housing debt;

•The house they are living in must be left in good condition;

•The tenant must accept an offer of alternative accommodation, which excludes sheltered housing;

•The tenant must not have previously been awarded a downsizing grant;

•There must be a sufficiently high demand for the qualifying tenant's property.

Householders with the oldest tenancies will be the first to be approached by the council as their tenancies are more likely to be under-occupied.