Portsmouth council housing boss: ‘People won’t like' repair system overhaul to save £1.8m
Portsmouth City Council’s housing chief has admitted some people won’t be happy as changes are made to how quickly it carries out repairs at council houses.
Approval has been given to a raft of changes to the repair and maintenance policies, including the requirement that only emergency repairs be attended to out of hours and the introduction of a four-week notice in writing to those residents leaving the property.
Portsmouth City Council approved changes to the repair services to comply with new regulations and improve efficiency.
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 introduced new Consumer Standards that all social housing landlords must meet.
The Safety and Quality Standard consumer standards, effective April 2024, require registered providers to deliver effective, efficient, timely services for repairs, maintenance, and planned improvements to the homes and communal areas under their responsibility.
In February, the council approved a review of the policies. The policy included all Portsmouth Homes dwellings, including external and communal areas.
Under review, the repair policy defines Portsmouth Homes’ and tenants’ repair responsibilities and standards and outlines in detail where residents are responsible for certain aspects of the repairs and what Portsmouth Homes is responsible for.
The policy introduces four repair categories and sets timescales for responses.
Emergency repairs should be attended to within 24 hours. If a repair cannot be completed, we will ‘make safe’ and mitigate any risks. Any further appointments will be during normal working hours.
Examples would include no heating or hot water between October 1 and March 31, when a household member’s vulnerability is severely impacted by not having these services.
Urgent repairs will be completed within three working days of being reported. Routine repairs will be addressed within 20 working days, and planned repairs will be inspected within 20 working days, with a completion date confirmed subject to available resources.
Additional work types, such as door entry and extractor fans, were also added to the urgent repair category. These repairs should be completed in seven working days.
The policy introduces a repair policy stating that Portsmouth Homes will only attend emergency repairs after 5pm on weekdays, weekends, or bank holidays.
The repair policy will clearly outline the responsibilities and standards for Portsmouth Homes and tenants regarding repairs.
This includes the decision to stop repairing or replacing toilet seats, establish chain link fencing as the standard for replacing fences, use surface-mounted conduit for new electrical wiring, cease replacing front gates, and allow only minimal decorations following repairs.
Another important change in the ‘void’ policy is that at the end of a tenancy, the tenant will now be expected to give four weeks’ written notice, and the council will be required to do a home visit and undertake another check before the tenancy ends.
The policy also defined both parties’ responsibilities when moving in and out of the property.
With the changes, the council estimated it could generate an annual efficiency of £1,850,000.
It said the money would be reinvested into safety and improvement schemes across their stock, such as increasing fire safety measures, removing damp and mould, or improving energy efficiency.
Darren Sanders, cabinet member for housing and tackling homelessness, said that since the council is facing debts and deficits “like everyone else,” changes need to be made.
Cllr Sanders said: “Sadly, we’re now facing debts and deficits like everyone else. Unlike Southwark, we do not wish to sell off council homes to pay for it, but it may mean some changes to services, and that’s what’s going to happen.
“The multiple threats of more costs, capped rents, and a regulator wanting us to behave more like other authorities that may be less successful for understandable reasons are going to create trouble. So that means there will be things that people won’t like.
“I’m sorry about that, but that means we can prioritise spending more money on keeping people safe and spending more money on things like fixing kitchens and boilers and making people live okay.
He added that although there will be people who will be “unhappy”, the council needs to “balance up” the need to “make sure our money comes in and that we can spend more things while trying to provide a decent service.”
With a “little bit of reluctance” he approved the policies that will come into effect from June 1, 2025.
You can read the policy here.