Safety and security responsibility – landlord:
We will have an exemplary record for safety.
Our priority this year:
Ensure that we act as a responsible landlord by being well informed of the latest Health and Safety legislation and standards.
New contracts
Over the past two years, we have procured six key landlord compliance contracts. Some of these were secured through the Southeast Consortium using their frameworks, helping us save around £40,000 in procurement costs. We also introduced a new Asprey system which has streamlined the monitoring of our landlord compliance obligations.
Repairs
With Covid-19 continuing into year 2 of our business plan, our repairs service hasn’t seen the improvements we would have hoped. There were a few challenges we faced, such as contractors having to self-isolate, rise in prices, Brexit, labour issues and these were challenging across the sector.
We have worked hard over the past year to:
- Reduce the number of open repair jobs
- Reduce the turnaround time
- Improve staffing
We hope to see a continued improvement in year 3 of our business plan, where we will be focusing on improving the service and reducing the number of issues involved at all stages.
of residents were satisfied with how we handle repairs and maintenance
of homes complying with the Decent Homes Standard
of emergency repairs completed within 24 hours
of routine repairs completed within 28 days
Health & Safety
As always, our goal is to have 100% compliance in all areas of landlord health and safety. This year we fell short on one: our performance on gas servicing stood at 99.9% due to one property we were unable to access, however we have followed due process for this remaining home and have now completed the inspection. We are pleased to say we have met 100% for all other aspects of Landlord Health and Safety.
Our health and safety training has also been updated for all staff, with specialist training for frontline teams, ensuring residents can be confident that staff have the right training needed for their roles. The Southeast Consortium has also provided training for some of the Property Services Team over the last year.
Properties with valid Gas Servicing
(1 property did not provide access)
Properties with satisfactory Electrical Testing Certificates
Properties with Fire Risk Assessments
Communal areas with Asbestos Surveys
Properties with Water Risk Assessments
Properties with Lift Statutory Inspections carried out
Sustainability focus
One of our targets set by the Board is to meet at least EPC level C by 2030, 74% of our homes already meet this standard. All new developments will meet this standard, and we are working on getting our older properties to also meet this standard. At present we measure SAP (which measures the energy running costs of a home) and since last year, we have increased our goal from a SAP rating of 55 to 58. Year 3 of our business plan will focus on reviewing any grant funding we can apply for to improve our properties.
of properties have a SAP rating of 58 or above
(target was 100% - 7 properties remain under 58).