Repairs and Maintenance policy

Longhurst Group (the Group) is committed to providing properties that are well maintained and kept in good and safe repair, both for the benefit of existing customers and to maximise the long-term life of each asset.

This policy presents a clearly defined system of control for the management of repairs and maintenance activities within each asset.

Implementation of this policy will ensure compliance with our legal and regulatory responsibilities.

The Group will achieve and maintain effective management systems and will comply with all relevant legislative and regulatory requirements as defined on the title page.

In implementing this policy our objectives will be to:

• Comply at all times with all current legal responsibilities and codes of good practice
• Provide properties which are attractive to current and future customers
• Provide a prompt, economic and efficient responsive repairs service, including an out of hours emergency service, for all of our customers
• Minimise property void periods in order to minimise rental loss
• Achieve high standards of customer care and satisfaction
• Enable customers to have reasonable choices about when work is done and to comment on the services we provide
• Establish and maintain a comprehensive and systematic programme of service contracts, cyclical painting, major repairs, and planned maintenance
• Install components and undertake enhancements that improve the energy efficiency of our properties, maximising external funding if eligible working to meet targets in relation to the environment and carbon reduction.
• Procurement methods which consider costs and quality to demonstrate value for money
• Set and monitor key performance indicators as a platform for delivering a constantly improving service
• Ensure that all customers are given clear information on who is responsible for repair and maintenance in and around their homes
• Ensure that all internal procedures supporting this policy are clear, comprehensive, and available to all colleagues to ensure a consistent approach to managing, implementing, and budgeting for all aspects of repairs and maintenance
• Provide appropriate instruction, training and supervision to enable all colleagues to work safely and carry out their duties under the policy
• Provide adequate and appropriate resources to implement the policy
• Appoint competent people, with authority and knowledge to take the measures needed to comply with the policy and relevant legislation

This policy applies to all properties owned or managed (where we have repairs and maintenance responsibilities) and individuals employed and or engaged by the Group. The term customer could be used to represent a Longhurst Group customer or member of Longhurst Group colleagues.

Shared Owners in properties which have been funded through the Affordable Housing Programme 2021-2026 and have a Model Lease entered into after September 2021 will be eligible for structural and external repairs. An allowance of up to £500 net per property can also be claimed for eligible internal repairs – subject to the Group completing an inspection and assessment of the required works and agreeing they meet the qualifying criteria.

Responsive repairs can be reported by a customer, colleague, contractor, member of the public or identified during and estate inspections.  Repairs are categorised according to their urgency, with a set response target time for each category.

Customers are responsible for the internal decoration,general condition of their home and gardens as defined within our tenancy agreements .

The Group has responsibility for some Leaseholder and Leasehold for the Elderly repairs. Responsibilities for repairs are set out within each lease.

Responsive repairs are split into 3 main categories:

• Emergency repairs – we’ll fix or make safe within 24 hours
• Appointed urgent repairs – complete within 7 calendar days maximum
• Appointed routine repairs – complete within 28 calendar days maximum

Emergency repairs are when your health, safety or security is at risk, or the structure of your home could be harmed. Examples include an insecure door or ground floor window and substantial leaks that cannot be isolated or contained. A further routine or urgent repair appointment may be needed to complete any necessary repairs required after your property has been made safe.

An out of hours service is provided for emergency repairs.  The emergency repairs service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days per year.

Appointed repairs are defects or faults which do not put the health, safety or security of a customer at risk or cause harm to the structure of the property and are repairs that customers can reasonably live with for a period of time.

Some repairs may be prioritised for early completion as an urgent repair examples include: where right to repair legislation provides statutory guidelines, it is relating to a disrepair claim, it is a recall repair, the repair has failed a quality audit, compliance or health and safety risks, minor aids and adaptations, works relating to domestic violence or hate crime incidents or repairs relating to a complaints case.

No extensions will be provided to the above priority classifications. If a repair cannot be completed within the timescales outlined above then the order notes must be updated by the contractor and monitored through the Key Performance Indicators and associated narrative. The contractor must keep the customer and the Group updated at all times.

A full list of repairs responsibilities and priority classifications are contained in Appendix A. There may be instances (such as a customer disability or vulnerability) wherethe Group wish to undertake a repair that would ordinarily be the customers responsibility or enhance the priority classification. This will be on assessed on a case-by-case basis and consideration will be given to the individual circumstances and the repair. The decision will be at the complete discretion of the Group who will use the following vulnerability definition included as Appendix B of this document as a guide (please note that this could include the customer or their household members).

For repairs that are the customers responsibility the Group must be establish if the customer has any person living within the same household that are able to complete the works.

The Group’s customer service team will handle all repairs calls and arrange appointments at the first point of contact. Our call centre team will be available to take calls from 8.30am to 5.00pm on weekdays excluding public holidays. An out of hours’ telephone service will be provided through a third party outside of these hours for customers to report emergency repairs. 

The Group have access to translation services.

We offer the following appointment time slots for routine repairs:

• Monday to Friday am (8:00am – 12:00pm)
• Monday to Friday pm (12:00pm – 5:00pm)
• Avoid school run (10am-2pm)
• Monday to Friday evening (5:00pm – 7:00pm) – by request onlywhere a contractor has failed to keep an original appoinment
• Saturday am (8:00am – 12:00pm) – by request only where a contractor has failed to keep an original appointment.

Notes must be added to the order to provide further information to the contractor such as avoid school run etc.

If our contractors fail to keep or need to cancel an appointment the customer must be contacted by the contractor in advance of the original appointment and be offered another appointment. The original order must be updated and not cancelled.  

If the customer needs to cancel or rearrange their appointment they will contact the Group’s call centre who will update the order accordingly and provide the customer with a new appointment date.

The contractor must leave the property clean and tidy and explain to the customer the works undertaken.

If a repair cannot be completed at first visit the contractor must provide the customer with a new appointment date before leaving the property. This will be added as a task against the original order. If parts are required the contractor must provide the customer with a new appointment date before leaving the property and must inform the  Group and the customer if there are any delay or supply issues.

Following an emergency repair which has been made safe a new routine or urgent repair (depending on repair and customer) will be made and an appointment agreed with the customer before the operative leaves the property. If the emergency repair is completed out of hours the new appointment must be made on the first working day by the planners. The operative must inform the customer that more work is required and they will be contacted with an appointment on the next working day.   

All information must be collected for the order (such as before and after photographs, operative notes, customer signature) and the order updated and/or completed from site. It is imperative that the updates are made in real-time to enable accurate updates for performance and repairs monitoring.

If a variation to an existing order is required which is above the Contractors self-authorisation limit the contractor will phone the Repairs and Voids representatives from site and verbally agree if the repair can proceed. All variation requests must be authorised by Longhurst Group within one working day of receipt in Dynamics 365.

Where access to the property cannot be gained by the contractor, the contractor must follow the Group’s no access procedure and attempt to phone the customer before carding. If contact cannot be made or the customer is not in the vicinity of the property, the contractor must leave a no access card with a new appointment date and take a photograph of the door of the property with a time and date stamp on recorded on the image.

If there is a second no access attempt for the same repair the Contractor should request a cancellation of the order and provide a  reason of  no access. The Group will review if the repair is an item which could potentially lead to a disrepair claim (such as a broken extractor fan which could lead to damp and mould) or a health and safety risk before cancelling the order. No access repairs which have been cancelled will be referred to the recharge process.

If it is an emergency repair and access is not gained, the contractor should follow the emergency no access process.

All information relating to the no accesses (including photographs) must be provided to the Group, in an electronic format through the Dynamics 365 interface.

The Group will complete a quality audit on a sample of completed repair orders each month. This could be by way of a site visit or a desktop audit of repair order using the completion information provided by the contractor. This could be a random sample or following specific customer feedback. Quality audits will be logged on Dynamics. If the quality or standard of the work is found to not be acceptable the Group will notify the contractor who must make an appointment to bring the work up to the required standard within 7 calendar days. The contractor must also address any issues found with the quality of data on the order.

The contractor is to undertake their own repair quality audits and information should be provided to the Group at Operational meetings.

Customers are able to apply for permission to alter their homes via the the Group’s website. Permission requests will be reviewed and considered by the Assets and Property Services Team and a Repairs Surveyor will visit the property if required.

Where permission is granted to a customer they will then become responsible for the maintenance, repair and future replacement of the item(s) and this should be recorded on Dynamics CE.

If the customer who applied for permission moves out of the property and the item is left in situ, a decision will be made during the void period if the item will be gifted to the new customer or if the Group will then take responsibility for future maintenance. If the Group are to maintain the item then  Dynamics CE must be updated.

Whilst a property or component is under defects or within warranty repairs must be reported to the relevant contractor during this period and follow the defect process. If the repair is an emergency then a make safe repair may be completed by the repairs contractor with the aim to prevent damage to the property or risk to the customer.

The Group will make a claim to the National House Building Council (NHBC) on behalf of a customer where the property is under the guarantee and the customer is in a rented property. Shared Owners and Leaseholders will progress their own claims to NHBC.

We will comply with the Right to Repair provisions (section 121 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993). This obliges us to complete qualifying minor repairs within set timescales for eligible tenancies. If we fail to meet these timescales, the customer has the right to arrange for another contractor to undertake the work and to seek compensation from us for the inconvenience caused.

Generally, we will not carry out rechargeable repairs however, in exceptional circumstances we may complete the repair to protect the household from further damage or where there may be a compliance risk such as gas repairs.  We will recharge the customer for this work and follow our recharge process. The customer will be informed of recharges before the work is undertaken and a signature will be collected from the customer to state they accept the recharge. The customer may also be recharged for missed appointments providing the contractor has followed the no-access process.

Some repairs will be completed by specialist contractors such as door entry repairs, lift repairs or communal fire alarm repairs. The above priority appointment timeframes should be followed unless there is a specific service level agreement in place.

Following illegal entry into a dwelling we will:

• Carry out any emergency make safe repair
• Carry out any repairs as a result of the illegal entry that are our responsibility provided an incident number from the police is provided
• Notify the Housing, Care and Support or Leasehold Team immediately.

Where illegal entry into a dwelling is the result of the customers criminal activities no repairs will be done outside those of the landlord’s obligations unless deemed necessary to protect the condition of the property. This work will be rechargeable to the customer.

In instances of victimisation or domestic violence, where it is considered that there is the likelihood of repeat victimisation and attempted illegal entry, we will in consultation with the police and other parties provide additional security in those homes affected. These will be treated as a priority or emergency repair dependent on risk assessment. Any items in relation to this incident will not be recharged.

Section 11 of the Landlord & Customer Act 1985 imposes an obligation on the landlord to keep the structure and exterior of our rented and leasehold properties in good repair. If these repairs are not carried out, then a customer may be able to take legal action against us for disrepair.

The Group will be proactive in identifying potential disrepair issues and dealing with these to prevent formal notice. However, once formal notice has been received.  We undertake the following:

• Notify the Legal Enforcement Team immediately
• Investigate and respond to the claim within the disrepair protocol timescales (with support from our Legal Enforcement Team)
• Complete a disrepair inspection to identify any liability for the Group and any works required
• Until agreement has been reached with customer’s solicitor, all appointed routine and urgent repairs will be suspended and only emergency repairs completed
• Once agreement has been reached between parties, the Group will carry out any necessary repairs to the property in accordance with the agreed timescales
• Disrepair claim repairs must be completed as priority works

Voids are subject to the quality standards as set out in the Group’s lettable standard. At tenancy termination the relevant contractors will be notified of the void start date. Ordinarily the notice period is 4 weeks however, the contractors will be updated if the void start date changes.

During the notice period an end of tenancy inspection will be completed by the Repairs and Voids Team. During this inspection the condition of the property will be noted, and the customer made aware of any potential recharges. A key safe will also be installed by the Voids Team and a key obtained from the customer. If access is not gained for the end of tenancy inspection, an order will be raised to the contractor for forced entry on first day of possession. The cost of this will be recharged to the customer.

On the first working day of the void the Repairs and Voids Team will specify the void works required to ensure that the property meets the lettable standard. This specification will be issued to the repair’s contractor by way of a void order.

The boiler will be serviced and any repairs completed and the gas supply capped at the start of the void period.  If it is found that the boiler needs to be replaced during the void period then this will be referred to the Planned Team. The boiler will then be uncapped and serviced by the heating contractor once the customer moves into the property.

The contractor must review the order and specification and provide a completion date within one working day, which must be agreed with the Group. Once the void works have been completed the Contractor must notify us who will complete a void quality audit to ensure the lettable standard has been met. The property will then be passed to back to lettings for occupation by the customer.

If a customer requests a mutual exchange, a mutual exchange inspection will be completed and the customer notified of any items which they must complete (such as making good any damage) before exchange and an order will be raised to the heating contractor to complete a gas and electrical check 10 calendar days in advance of the exchange. Any remedial tasks identified from the compliance checks or mutual exchange inspection must be completed before the exchange can take place.

This work is undertaken on an arranged cycle to help maintain the property in good order. It includes items such as external painting.

This work is  carried out when building components have reached the end of their life. Components include kitchens, bathrooms, windows, doors, roofs, electrical rewires and boiler heating replacements. These works are determined by the age and condition of the component which is assessed during a stock condition survey.  A programme of stock condition surveys is in place to survey all properties every 5 years.

It may be necessary from time to time to replace components where they have failed or are beyond economic repair.  Our decision making in these circumstances will take account of:

• Condition of the component
• The cost of repairing verses replacement costs
• How long the repair is expected to last
• Next renewal date
• Customer feedback

Detailed 5-year investment plans are in place for all major repairs. We are developing investment plans for all non-component renewals to inform our planned works programmes in all schemes which will be delivered alongside our major repairs programmes.

The attached table indicates who is responsible for each type of repair in our rented properties and associated communal areas. The contractor should note that some tenancy agreements and leases may contain different repairing responsibilities if differences do exist the tenancy agreement or lease will override this document.

Longhurst Group are able to assume responsibility for the repair or change the priority classification based on an individual customer or their household members vulnerability and individual circumstances relating to the repair order.

INTERNAL CARPENTRY

INTERNAL PLUMBING AND HEATING (INCLUDING STORAGE HEATERS)

INTERNAL ELECTRICAL

INTERNAL PLUMBING AND HEATING (INCLUDING STORAGE HEATERS)

INTERNAL OTHER

EXTERNAL

ADAPTATIONS, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WORKS AND HATE CRIME

*Exceptions include: Where the fabric of the building is compromised allowing access to rodents and vermin or infestations in the loft space.

This table is to assist Longhurst Group colleagues, repairs suppliers, contractors, and OOH call handlers.

Every person should be considered on an individual basis and considerations should be made for other occupants in a property who are able to support whilst the repair is being completed.

It is to provide guidance of considerations of vulnerabilities in relation to repairs; where the priority and responsibility may be adjusted to reflect this.